So, What's to Get?
by Fiona Fargazer
Summary: (Part 1 of TR story) Tailmon mysteriously ends up in Pokémon World and has the misfortune of running into Team Rocket while she is quite wounded. When she escapes she leads Musashi, Kojiro, and Nyaasu by accident into the Digital World. What will this strange world have in store for them, especially when the viruses find out humans are out and about?
1. One Summer Day

So, What's to Get?

_NOTE: Before reading there are a couple things to know. One is that besides being a crossover this is also a bit of an AU too from both sides. First: language. I have been fortunate to be able to watch the first season of Digimon completely in Japanese and most with subtitles. I've only seen two episodes of Pokémon in Japanese with subtitles though I've managed to find some clips and things and my Japanese learning sister has deciphered some things. Anyway, once you've seen the Japanese version of an animé you never want to go back, but as it is that I have only seen minimal stuff with Pokémon in Japanese there are some things from the English (the stinky 4Kids dub — if they only translated things better and weren't so creepy .) Also a few things I've just left purposely. I think "Team Rocket" just sounds more organized than "Rocket Gang", but maybe "dan" is not translatable. I don't know; I don't speak much Japanese. The Team Rocket members I will call by their Japanese names (except "Giovanni", don't ask) not that I have too much problem with their dub names but it starts with the fact that I like Nyaasu's "nya", and I like their voices better in Japanese. Also most of the pokémon and digimon names are left in English form cuz I don't feel like relearning every single one of those creatures' names. Okay enough language, you get the picture. The other thing is that, just because I said so, they are in Hoenn but Team Rocket has their older pokémon: Arbok, Lickitongue, Weezing, and Victorybell; though I plan to make references later on that they, at one time, had Wabafet and Chimecho. There are a few other things too, but these are the major noteworthy facts thus far. On the Digimon side, it's just that it takes place in no actual time of the show except that it's some time after the second season. I have not even seen the whole second season in Eng or Jap and to be honest I don't care to (it gets boring after Ken (forgot his Japanese name) changes for me and besides that I just don't like the season as a whole). So the rules are all more like the first season. Also just in case you don't know, here are the names from English to Japanese for you that I use Gatomon: Tailmon, James: Kojiro, Jessie: Musashi, Meowth: Nyaasu (come on "Nyaasu" is a cuter sounding name than "Meowth" XD)._

_I like to think of this story as sort of my take on the characters. Most of the basic rules and character traits are still intact but with a little bit of my own spin to things. If you're a Marvel or DC readers, it's kinda like when a different writer comes and makes a sort of long graphic novel or special._

_Oh, and also this story is based off of something my sister and I made up together, so she gets some credit for the story especially with Tailmon and Kojiro's dialogue (though I have modified a lot from the original "game" we made up.) And the opening line of "I wish something would happen" in the third scene is thanks to my brother.  
_

_So! If you think it won't be too confusing with these little oddities, enjoy your read!_

* * *

Prologue

The fierce fight came quickly to a close as Tailmon made to kick directly between the eyes of the strange, irritable digimon. Whatever had made him so upset mattered little when Tailmon had tried at first avoid unnecessary confrontation, but now the other digimon was so enraged that she had no other choice but to knock him out at least. He would have killed her otherwise!

Yet just before her foot came in contact with the head before her, a flash of light pushed all other sight completely from view, and the next thing Tailmon knew she sailed not into any living thing, but with a yelp she collapsed onto the floor of a building.

"Ah!" screamed a voice. "What's that!?"

Tailmon turned and saw a girl, a real human girl, standing in shock as she stared back at Tailmon. Tailmon was about to speak, but that was when she noticed that besides this girl there stood many humans behind her. About three were line up directly behind the girl, and many more humans were scatter about after that. Tailmon dared a glance behind her at the sizzling machine with little holders the size of which may have been able to hold chicken eggs, but guessing by the red and white ball in the girl's hand, Tailmon guessed that the machine had not been meant for eggs.

Something was wrong. She knew not which human had brought her here. It seemed as though no person had, and just as a person of authority showed up to ask (though kindly as her voice was) what had happened, Tailmon felt quite invaded upon as every person in the building pointed out the strange creature in front of the broken machine.

She leapt away, straight out the open window. She had to figure out what had happened and fast! But she did not get far as she ran down the road and out into the field beyond, for no sooner had she left the road when she heard a howl behind her.

An angry creature like a digimon turned to face her. A doglike creature baring its teeth. She had obviously defiled territory. She was about to say something in her defense, but this creature would hear none of it as it lunged for her, but she wouldn't let it kill her. She leapt at it, but as she scratched it, the creature let out a burst of flame. She lunged again, but she soon found herself surrounded. Another and another. There must have been two dozen of them! And all were quite powerful and quite deadly with their flaming breath and deadly horns. They howled and snarled, those pack of black and orange creatures, and even though she refused to let herself be afraid she knew there was a possibility she would be unable to escape this fight …

CHAPTER ONE:

One Summer Day

_Life's funny. Nya._

_I know you probably heard it before, but it's true._

_So many things link up to another. We're all born to want to be good, to love, to be pure, honest, true, but for lots of us something happens. Abuse. A broken heart. A mentor more confused than you are. Then it's all over. Flaws grow. You lose sight of who you are. You become the very thing you feared, and half the time you don't even know it. The cycle starts all over again for someone you've affected._

_Nya …_

_You'd think a talking pokémon would be able to do something useful with his talent. Bring humans and pokémon to a better understanding, but no, I used it to get ahead in the human game. To be number one! I played it like a game. It was a fun game filled with glimmer and shinies all ready for the taking. In fact, I felt myself a veritable expert at the game; though, that kid we started to follow did not really do much to lift morale. Is it fanciful to say that I often envisioned myself a pirate? N-yeah! Jack Sparrow had competition even if my crew was a couple of rejects of Team Rocket. It wasn't the pokémon I cared so much about either. It was the food, the attention (even if most of it was negative), the food, the excitement, oh, and the food, and the shiny, sparkling, gleaming money, hoards and hoards and hoards of silver coins (not paper money) all for the nyaasu who couldn't use payday!_

_Shinies … I like them. It's in the nature of my race, so what? Nya!_

_Not that I got much of what I wanted …_

_Well, anyway, there was no way any three of us could have expected what was about to happen that hot summer day on the hill. If we had known, we would have taken our chances with the kids and Pikachu with or without a plan. As it was, though, we decided to leave the spying for later with the strange pokémon we saw and all, and … Nya, I'm getting a little ahead of the story, nya._

#

Kojiro let out a mournful sigh as he turned from the view over the hill upon which he was squatted.

He, Musashi, and Nyaasu had been watching the kid and his friends all afternoon. The day was hot. In the shade of the bushes the humidity could not be escaped even if the sun could be. With nothing to really occupy one's mind upon besides the icy, sparkling lemonade in the glasses below and the cool river into which the obliviously spied-upon dipped their feet, Kojiro only felt the heat all the more.

Besides that nothing was happening, and no plan emerged.

Nyaasu was so uninterested in the day's events that in the heat of the day he had fallen asleep in the sunlight like the cat he was as he stretched out on his back lazily in the grass. He snored softly and even purred on occasion.

A nap did not seem like a bad idea, actually, but it was only a trick of the humidity. Really Kojiro needed some of that lemonade, or even the little ice cubes the kid's pokémon were sucking on, or maybe just a quick jump in the river.

The only one who still held her binoculars was Musashi, and even she was probably eyeing the drinks more than the pokémon whether she would admit it or not.

A moment after Kojiro had stopped looking over the hill, Musashi glanced over at Kojiro out of the corner of her binoculars. Her eye lids lowered crossly, but before she could say anything however Kojiro spoke instead.

"I wish something would happen," he said and leaned back in the grass with hands behind his head.

"You can," muttered a motionless Nyaasu with slight irritation; though, eyes were still contently closed. "After being chased by all those angry carvannha over the waterfall and straight out to sea, I don't want anything happening for a whole nya-ther week! Nya!" He yawned in a sort of meow and rolled over into a more comfortable position.

Musashi rolled her eyes. "Oh, quit whining. Both of you! We have a job to do, what do you think Team Rocket agents are paid to do?"

"Well, we're not paid anything," Kojiro pointed out. "We don't even get upgraded equipment from them anymore. We could at least take off our boots and socks."

"We need them if we have to spring into action," said Musashi. "It's … dignity!"

"What dignity?" muttered Nyaasu.

Musashi let out an impulsive kick against Nyaasu's head.

"Nya!" Rubbing his skull and glaring in an apparently oblivious Musashi's direction, he seemed to be considering whether it would be worth it to clobber her back, but when he continued to rub the back of his head and settle back into the grass with an unintelligible grumble, Kojiro decided it safe to continue.

"They aren't going to do anything," said Kojiro motioning to the children still quite enjoying the cool river and lemonade. "It's too hot. Maybe they have the right idea. Maybe we should call it a day and go into town to get some lemonade too."

"In case you forgot, we don't have any money," said Musashi in a low growl. "We used it up buying those snacks."

"You wanted them too."

"I didn't say I didn't!" Musashi snapped, anger building fiercely now. In this heat any temper could rise with tremendous speed, and hers blazed up even at -30°F. "But if we don't have any money, we can't get anything!"

"Then how 'bout we steal those kids' lemonade," whined Kojiro.

The argument might have went on longer, but just before Musashi was about to start some violence, there was a strange sound coming from the brush down the other side of the hill. A moan and a stumble — quite a small stumble but quite a thick moan.

Sitting upright and alert, Nyaasu was the first aroused to investigate, but the others were more than curious as well, and with Nyaasu slipping quickly and quietly ahead, Musashi and Kojiro followed from behind half tripping over each other to be second in line. Eventually, they gave in to squatting side by side. Then they waited with great anticipation for Nyaasu to part the greenery for a view.

"Look!" whispered Kojiro as he leaned closer over Nyaasu's head. "A pokémon."

"Yeah, but what is it?" demanded Musashi.

"I don't know, but she's wounded," said Nyaasu.

He leaned his head out further, but it was hard to tell whether it was because he wanted to lean closer to the new prize or to get further away from his cohorts breathing anxiously over his head. Either way, he hopped out through the bush and slunk for further investigation with a musing paw under his chin and a thoughtfully pouting lip.

Kojiro turned to Musashi, and he had no doubt he mirrored her confused expression until she figured that too, and with a deep frown she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him through Nyaasu's opening.

"Come on," she grumbled.

Circling around the creature more like a group of confused school children than the vultures they envisioned themselves, the trio stared down at the pure white fur, the greenish gloves, the purple tufted ears, and the matching purple striped tail with the golden ring, and all wondered the exact same thing.

What unusual pokémon is this, and how much was it worth?

At least Kojiro assumed his partners felt the same until Nyaasu with a heavy sigh decided to say, "She's beautiful, nya …"

He should not have been surprised, but he looked up from the wounded heap to Nyaasu rather wide-eyed and with nothing to say.

"Oh, no you don't!" snapped Musashi quite the opposite in her reaction to the previous opinion.

"Nya! What? 'Beautiful' as in ripe for the taking!" snapped Nyaasu. "So what if she's a cat! What do you think I am?"

"What about Skitty?" Musashi growled.

Nyaasu growled in return. "There was nothing special about Skitty, nya! Team Rocket wouldn't have profited from her anyway! She was just alone and scared and …"

"She didn't look that upset too me!" snapped Musashi.

"That's cuz she was just confused, the poor thing, nya!" snapped Nyaasu.

"Hmm," said Musashi, crossing her arms. "You're growing soft, Nyaasu! Are you a member of Team Rocket or are you a pussy cat?"

At this bit of rudeness, Nyaasu could no longer contain himself, and in an explosion of rage and a fierce cry, he let out a wild slash straight across Musashi's face.

By this time, Kojiro could only sigh. A fight would be inevitable now, and there was no use stopping them. He closed his eyes and lowered his head down to the wounded creature again. He almost felt sorry for her himself so blackened with burn marks and bruised and cut with horn marks as she was.

This was the work of a houndoom pack. He should know. Team Rocket almost got killed by them a few days back after trying to catch just one of them while it was sleeping. There was an awful lot of them suddenly, and all of them with a flaming bark far worse than their bite. This creature was lucky to be alive, but, Kojiro told himself with a careless shrug, business was business after all, and speaking of business, someone had to keep an eye on her in case she tried to escape until they figured what to do with her. With Musashi and Nyaasu distracted at the moment, he supposed that someone ought to be him.

They had no devices with which to capture her as they had left everything save spy equipment back in the balloon, but he did have a spare pokéball. With the weakened state of the pokémon she could be captured quite easily. Besides, maybe they could just keep her as their own. He was sure Nyaasu wouldn't mind; though, Musashi might be hard to convince … He glanced uneasily in her direction as she tried to pry Nyaasu away from her head.

Whatever. They would work that out later.

He grabbed the ball.

However, just as he was about to make the capture, the pokémon began to stir and to moan, and her eyes opened, narrowing directly upon him. She did not look at all pleased to see him either.

With a cry Kojiro leapt back and dropped the ball on the ground.

"She's waking up!" he gasped.

Both Musashi and Nyaasu stopped their fighting instantly; though, Musashi still held Nyaasu's head firmly on the ground where she had landed it after successfully freeing her own head from Nyaasu's claws.

"What? Are you afraid of a little kitty cat?" demanded Musashi.

With eyes flaring, Nyaasu forced out of Musashi's grip and clawed her again.

"I'll show you what little kitties can do, nya, _nya_!"

And he landed beside Kojiro, snatching the ball from the ground.

"Hey, that's mine!" snapped Kojiro.

"Sorry, but no pity this time," Nyaasu replied simply, and throwing the ball he let out another loud, "Nyah!" of triumph, but too soon. The ball even hit the creature, but instead of catching her it bounced off as easily as if it had bounced off a shrub.

"Mmph!" growled the creature.

Nyaasu's mouth dropped in disbelief. "Nya! Why didn't it work!?" he demanded.

"Maybe because you're a pokémon," suggest Musashi.

"That shouldn't matter!" Nyaasu protested. "I've thrown balls before. If you can release them you can catch them, nya."

"He's right, Musashi," said Kojiro, but Musashi would not listen and had to try for herself.

With a ball of her own, she tried to catch the pokémon, but though it landed beside the wounded creature nothing happened and there she remained.

"What?" cried Musashi.

"Nya!" gasped Nyaasu in awe. "This pokémon must be really something special if the pokéballs don't even affect her."

Kojiro crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Do you think we need a great ball or an ultra ball?" he wondered out loud.

"Whatever," said Nyaasu. "We can still catch her with this! Nya!" And somehow he pulled a net out from behind him.

"Where did you get that?" demanded Kojiro.

Nyaasu paid no attention, but instead made to catch the new pokémon in his net.

The pokémon growled dangerously. "Stay back!" she hissed.

All three gasped.

"She talks! Nya!" cried Nyaasu.

"So do you," Musashi pointed out.

"That's not the point!" snapped Nyaasu just before Musashi snatched the net away. "Hey!"

With a fine swoop, the net landed over the top of the poor creature even as she tried to get away, but she was still too wounded to fight back, and the net was stronger than it looked.

With a grin, Musashi scooped up their prize and with the press of a button on the handle of the net, the opening closed over the top so there would be no chance of escape. This was a Pikachu net. The creature couldn't get out of it, especially not in the state she was in.

"Sorry, little kitty," Musashi said leaning in towards the creature with mock sweetness, "but you're coming with us whether you like it or not."

"Yeah!" agreed the others.

With a hiss the creature attempted to swipe at Musashi but just barely missed.

"Now, c'mon! Let's get back to the balloon before any nosy kids show up, nya!" cried Nyaasu.


	2. Rarity

Chapter Two:

Rarity

_Why "nya" after every other line?_

_Well, most people don't know this, but it's common pokémon practice to end complete thoughts or even sentences with a sound of some kind. Nyaasu are known to use the tactic more than some. Pikachu for instance, don't use it as much, but when I learned how to talk like the humans around me, it just remained a habit. Even in writing, I sometimes stick it in; though, a real mark for the "nya" would probably just be the period. After all, I read periods, exclamation points, and question marks all as various "nya" sounds._

_I never bothered to get rid of "nya". I put it off as laziness, but sometimes I wonder if it was just because there was some part of me that did not want to completely lose my identity as a pokémon. Somehow, subconsciously even, I think I missed the simplicity of being just a cat when all I wanted was a little attention._

_Maybe that's even why I would on occasion want to stay with other people who would think of me more as a cat. Team Rocket never would, and as a whole, it would be far better if they never did. As for Kojiro and Musashi, they only brought up the fact that I was a pokémon when they either wanted something from me that their other pokémon could not provide (nyapaydaynya) or they just wanted to pick on me. Lucky, they were never too serious, or I might have ended up in a pokéball — a place I detested more than almost anything else! I preferred "cat" over the literal meaning of the term "pocket monster" any day! Whoever decided to call us all that had some nerve._

_But a lot of it was pride. The pride of being special. A rarity! I did not want to be human. I wanted to be a talking pokémon. The only talking nyaasu! If I could not have what I used to want, I'd get the next best thing: the center of attention. Fame, the honor of being a rare pokémon regardless of the common lowliness of being a simple, street nyaasu. Because if I wasn't special, I was just a stupid pussy cat as Musashi had so frankly put it and a failure of a pokémon who could not even use the move most famous for his kind._

_With that all said and done, I leave off these thoughts only with the complex and yet oxymoronically simple, "Nya!"_

* * *

"I can't believe we finally caught something!" Kojiro cried gleefully. He nearly danced in his excitement.

"Of course!" agreed Musashi as cheerfully as ever. "We're going straight to the boss and there's not an annoying kid in sight!" She let out a loud laugh.

"Nya!" Nyaasu agreed. "It's just perfect!"

They landed the balloon far away from the town, far away from the traveling trainers, and far away from anybody. There was absolutely no way anyone would mess this up for Team Rocket! Absolutely not way whatsoever!

Least of all the pokémon herself, who was by now so severely chained and bound that nothing could escape such preparation. Nothing! It was worth a couple rounds of evil laughter, that's what it was, and they even let out a third round. They won! Now all they had to do was fly her over to Team Rocket's base and their leader Giovanni himself.

Still, it was going to take a while to get back there on a hot air balloon, and some things, even for top notch villains, never changed.

Stomachs began to growl.

"We should get something to eat," said Musashi with a sigh that was just a tad disheartening.

"But how?" asked Kojiro. "You said so yourself, we don't have any money?"

"We'll steal some!" snapped Musashi. "Think, Kojiro! Or aren't even capable of that?"

Kojiro leapt upright to defend himself. "Hey, I'm capable!" he said. "And you didn't want to steal anything when I suggested it earlier." His arms crossed tightly in defiance.

Nyaasu smiled. "Are you sure you wan-nya bring that up? Nya?"

With a tensing scowl, Musashi knocked Nyaasu out of the way, and he hit the edge of the basket next to where the prize was still trapped. The prize watched the procedure with glaring blue eyes. She might have said something too if the gag around her face had not been so tight.

"You can stay with the balloon, Kojiro," said Musashi as she climbed out of the basket and hopped onto the ground.

"Why me?" Kojiro demanded.

"Because you'll just mess things up," said Musashi, "and I'm mad at you right now."

Kojiro frowned. "Why? What did I do? I thought you were mad at Nyaasu."

This was when Nyaasu who had had enough arguing for now, climbing onto the rim of the basket cleared his throat and clasped his paws importantly behind his back. He puffed his chest out even more importantly as both his partners turned to him with wide-eyed curiosity.

"I'll stay here to guard our prize, nya!" he said.

"You?" said Kojiro doubtfully.

"Nya … Well," continued Nyaasu holding a paw out in front of him; and though he faced it, he was really only looking at it for superiority's sake, "someone responsible should stay with her in case something happens, and you two are more than capable of getting the food without me, nya."

"No!" snapped Musashi. "You just want to free the pokémon we stole fair and square! Well, too bad. _I'll _stay with the pokémon!"

"You trust Kojiro and me to bring back the best to share?" asked Nyaasu innocently.

"Good point," Musashi admitted, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "But what about you then?"

"I already said, nya," said Nyaasu. "I'm tired of running around for a while, remember? I'm not in the mood for burglar-ing even if it is just food."

"Then you better not fall asleep!" Kojiro warned as dangerously as he could, which to Nyaasu was just laughable.

"I won't!"

"And you better not let her go!" Musashi warned. She would not even have to have yelled it to make the threat convincing, but Nyaasu considered her just as laughable as Kojiro.

"Fine, nya, fine!" said Nyaasu. "Nothing will happen. I'll stay right here, and so will our prize!"

"If she's not …" Musashi hissed, leaning into Nyaasu's face, clenching her teeth so hard Nyaasu and Kojiro could almost hear them grind.

"She will!" snapped Nyaasu.

Musashi turned abruptly away. "Fine!" she sniffed. "Come on, Kojiro. We're going. Bring the grappling hook rope and the skeleton key pins."

"Couldn't we have stopped for food and then went all the way out here? It'll be nightfall by the time we get back here," Kojiro muttered. Now he was following her out of the basket as well, but was hindered when Musashi shoved him directly back in, and with a low growl he climbed back out again.

"I said, stop complaining!" said Musashi.

Nyaasu leaned against the balloon rope and watched as the pair began to head for town. He closed his eyes haughtily as he dropped back into the basket, but when he opened his eyes all pride left him as he was left face to face with the daggered, icy eyes of his prisoner. After a silent start, Nyaasu only returned the leer as venomously as he could. All the world quickly deteriorated save for two sets of feline eyes. At first Nyaasu felt quite superior over the other as the other's fierce glare began to soften ever so slightly, but whether her eyes drooped from weariness, or pain, or just loss of interest, Nyaasu suddenly felt quite small in comparison to her. He knew, as usual, that in a contest of strength he would be unable to beat the prisoner, but what shook Nyaasu was the fact that she could no doubt outwit him too. He could see it in her eyes, feel it in her very presence. Experience, strength, intelligence, and even wisdom — it just radiated off of her like the glow of a bulb.

At last he could stand this no more and leaping toward he let out an angry growl.

"What?!" he demanded. "We caught you fair and square! You should be proud to be caught by Team Rocket, nya!"

The prisoner closed her eyes and turned away with a snort.

"Well, if you're going to be that way," sniffed Nyaasu. "I was thinking about letting you have some water just to keep you from dehydrating in this humidity, but fine, nya!" He stuck out his tongue childishly.

Now the prisoner only shook her head, at least as much as she was able, tied up as she was.

With a heavy sigh, Nyaasu sat down, paws crossed, as he leaned against the basket wall. He looked up at the sky a moment, trying not to look at her, but it was no use. His curiosity was burning, regardless of her being a cat, regardless of what Musashi thought about him having a mini crush like the one he had had over Skitty! This was beyond simple infatuation! This was about meeting face to face with a stray pokémon down on her luck, tied up, miserable, and who, like him, had learned to talk.

The boss had no interest in talking pokémon as Nyaasu well knew, so this piece of rarity possessed little use as far as Team Rocket was concerned; though, she was obviously overall valuable.

All this burning inside Nyaasu built up to such a degree that despite the fact that he knew she could not answer back with her mouth gagged, he asked, "Who are you?"

The prisoner raised a brow.

"Where did you come from, nya?" Nyaasu continued. He stood up again and dared a step toward her.

"Hmm," growled the prisoner as she swiveled away again.

Nyaasu thought a moment and then said, "Nya … if you want I can take off the gag if you promise not to scream or bite. I'll knock you out if you try anything. I'll give you some water, and you can tell me who you are, nya."

The prisoner gave little indication either way whether she would be in a cooperative mood, but Nyaasu did not even wait for a response as he bounded to the other side of the basket to reach for the reserve water — now quite warm — and brought it back to where the prisoner resided. Carefully, he set to work untying the gag and with a rather genial smile he held up some water for her to drink from a Styrofoam cup.

"No, thank you," muttered the prisoner, once again turning away.

"Aw, c'mon, nya," said Nyaasu holding the cup closer.

"I'll take nothing from you," the prisoner retorted.

Nyaasu frowned.

"You're all mean, little cowards," she finished flatly.

"Cowards!" Nyaasu spat. "You should see what we put up every day, nya! We go through a lot for our work! Long hours, full minded scheme, explosive setbacks …!" he shrugged. "You wouldn't understand the work that goes into being an agent of Team Rocket, nya."

The prisoner was hardly impressed. "Then you're pigheaded cronies but still cowards preying on the helpless like you do."

"No. Opportunists," said Nyaasu tartly.

"Hmm …"

"But that's not why I ungagged you, nya!" Nyaasu snapped. "Are you going to tell me who you are?"

"No," said the prisoner.

"Why not, nya?" Nyaasu complained.

"I don't have to tell anything to you," replied the prisoner.

"Oh, n-yeah?" said Nyaasu, "Then why don't I tie you right back up, nya!"

Grabbing the gag, he attempted to retie her, but the moment he neared her, he knew he had made a mistake in removing the gag period for she bit at the upper ropes which bound her and clawed through the rest. The chains merely dropped from her form after that, and it was a simple task, Nyaasu noted, for her to kick right out of the cage.

Nyaasu who could only stare dumbfounded as she made her escape, only came to his senses by the time she leapt over the side of the basket.

"NYYYAAAAHH!" Nyaasu screamed, fur bolting upright on his body, and in blind panic he leapt after her.

There was no way he was going to be blamed for this! No way! He would chase her down all night if he had to. She was injured after all, but Nyaasu saw too soon that even injured she was outrunning him. In the craze of the moment, Nyaasu found himself forced for the first time in ages to run on all fours to chase after her effectively through the brush, in and around thorn bushes, over hedges, under a fence or two and skipping rocks over the river.

Now Nyaasu and his partners certainly were good when it came from fleeing the scene (probably the adrenaline), but for some reason running in the pursuit of something was an entirely different matter, and his breath became short and gasping while the escapee still dashed away like a rabbit from a fox.

Finally, he found himself free of the greenery and saw a faint white splotch on the top of a farm hill. She was waiting for him, he knew, but that did not stop him from forcing an extra boost and tossing a trail of dirt behind him as he rocketed the last bit of his run up to where she stood.

The strange pokémon watched as Nyaasu gasped for breath and tried to slow his pounded chest. She shook her head and sighed. Then after a moment or two she stood up and approached him.

"Tailmon."

Nyaasu's tongue returned to his mouth, and he instantly forgot his weariness as he asked with a raised brow, "Nya?"

"That's my name," said the creature. "Tailmon. You asked. There's your answer, but I want something in return."

"What's that?" growled Nyaasu.

"I want you to tell me where we are," she said.

"Hoenn," said Nyaasu.

She looked disappointed with his answer, and with a sigh she lifted her head up to the sky and the half moon overhead.

Nyaasu followed her gaze, and as he looked up at the black canvas of twinkling dabs of white painted across the sky, he thought he had just caught the end of a shooting star disappear behind the barn not far from them.

"Nice night," said Nyaasu.

Tailmon could not disagree and allowed a quick nod of her head.

"It's very clear," she said.

"You, um … lost, Tailmon?" asked Nyaasu. What he really wanted to ask was where she was from, how had she gotten here, when had she learned to talk and why? So many questions filled his head, but he could not manage to get himself to ask anything further for the moment.

For the first time since he had met this strange pokémon, her eyes widened in surprise at his words. With mouth dropping ever so slightly she turned her body to face directly towards him. Her eyes narrowed, studying him for sincerity, and again Nyaasu felt a little uneasy. Her penetrating stare was enough to make a brick wall start to feel uncertain about the manner in which it had been grouted.

But the stare soon subsided, and closing her eyes, Tailmon said in manner that Nyaasu considered rather dry, "You're pitiful."

Now it was Nyaasu's turn to stare. His mouth practically dropped to his feet, and he clamped it tightly shut again. Turning away with a growl and a firm crossing of his arms he muttered, "I don't see why I need your sympathy or your insults, nya."

"And that's the problem," retorted Tailmon.

Rage began building again.

"Look," said Nyaasu with a sniff, his back still to her, "it's nothing personal. It's just I'm from Team Rocket. Team Rocket steals pokémon and whatever else they can get their paws on. It's just what we do, and taking you in is all part of business, nya. So if you just come quietly, I'll make sure that we get you to base with as little pain as possible. I'll even make sure you get the best of the food those losers bring back. Maybe I can convince either Musashi or Kojiro to keep you, nya. It's the best I can offer and my final offer." He shrugged, closing his eyes importantly as he turned toward her once more. "By the way, Tailmon, I was wondering. Do you need to be in a great ball or an ultra ball, nya? You must be on a really high level if you, ny — _NYAH_!"

She was gone.

Nyaasu spun around.

"Nya?"

Nowhere in sight!

"Nya!"

Oh, how could he have been so stupid?

He was practically clawing his fur out of his head in his exasperation. His entire body tensed as he leapt to the side of the hill and scanned the entire area. Farm, wood, house, gate, a passing gliggar. Nothing else.

With a heavy groan and a slump, Nyaasu began a heavy march down the hill.

All he could mutter about the situation was the infamous cliché, "I'm getting to old for this," before letting out a last pitiable, "Nya …"

Maybe he would sleep outside the basket somewhere far away tonight. He had sort of lost his appetite anyway, and if he did get a little hungry maybe if he asked really politely he could get some from some milk from miltanks sleeping in the barn. Hopefully he would not run into anymore cats! He was not in the mood for meeting up with an angry barn cat, but he supposed an angry farm dog would be worse … Nothing would compare to meeting up with Musashi when she found out that he had let the rare pokémon escape. Even if he did not exactly let her go on purpose, he might as well have.


	3. The Last Normal Day

Chapter Three:

The Last Normal Day

"Idiot!" That was Musashi.

"Worthless!" Then it was Kojiro.

"Sniveling trash!" Musashi.

"Mush for brains!" Kojiro.

"Creepy, little freak!" Musashi again.

"Freak!? Nya!" screamed Nyaasu throwing up his head in fury, but Musashi shoved his head face-first right back down into the dirt where they had been beating on him.

"Yeah!"

"Stupid, talking cat!" growled Kojiro taking a turn at the beating by pulling on the side of Nyaasu's face.

"Lousy punk!" screamed Musashi. "What's the matter with you!?"

"A lame excuse for a Team Rocket agent!" growled Kojiro. "You let her go! And just because she was a _cat_!"

But just as Kojiro's hand approached him again, Nyaasu grabbed it, shoving it into the ground instead, and he roughly kicked Musashi's hands before whipping quickly.

"Nya!" snapped Nyaasu, and in an almost entirely fluid motion he slashed both angry faces before either Musashi or Kojiro could react.

"AHHH!" the cohorts screamed as they recoiled and grabbed at the painful scratches.

Landing neatly on the ground in triumph, Nyaasu brushed off his paws and said, "That's where I draw the line, nya. Nya-ow will you listen to me?"

"There's nothing to listen to," hissed Musashi. "You let her escape!"

"Nya!" snarled Nyaasu. "She got away herself. Nya!"

"Ha, like we're going to believe that!" Musashi scoffed.

"Yeah!" Kojiro agreed.

"Nya …" Nyaasu held up a claw-ready paw.

Musashi and Kojiro gasped leaping backwards and clutched their faces again fearfully.

Satisfied that he had finally gotten their attention and the upper paw, Nyaasu with a broad smile hopped onto a rock and climbed onto another to further the superior experience as he was now above his cohorts' heads (and just out of reach of their arms). Straightening himself, he then cleared his throat.

"Whether she escaped or not, she wasn't as strong or as rare as we thought!" snapped Nyaasu. "Remember when we got the togepi? We brought her to the boss, and what did he say? That's what would've happened again, nya!"

"Hmph," said Kojiro.

Musashi rolled her eyes in disgust.

"But even still! I didn't let her escape! I know my job, and I got a better plan," continued Nyaasu. "I'm still the brains! Nya, nya, nya!"

Kojiro and Musashi exchanged unimpressed glances while holding simply crossed arms and solid postures.

"So what is it?" demanded Kojiro, leaning forward a little.

"A plan to get Pikachu, nya!" snapped Nyaasu.

With skeptically lowered lids Musashi pressed, "And …?"

#

"This is stupid," grumbled Musashi.

"Then why'd you agree to it?" whispered Kojiro.

Why had she agreed to it?

Here Musashi and Kojiro squatted in the brush waiting for Nyaasu's signal with their weapons ready and their bodies tingling despite themselves for the approach of the brat and his friends. She glared up at Nyaasu waiting intently up in the nearby tree, tape player beside him and forepaw right over the play button. The wide-eyed intensity on his face was like that of any cat readying himself for a mouse to come out of its hole. Although he was sitting humanlike in the tree his tail was swishing back and forth with typical feline anticipation.

Musashi rolled her eyes back to Kojiro with immense irritation.

"After we lost that—that whatever it was, he owes us a success," she growled, her voice rising quickly, "and I'm feeling generous enough to give him that chance, so there!"

"Oh …"

_Well, he bothered asking_, Musashi thought.

"Hey!" Nyaasu hissed. "Quiet! I just barely see them! Get ready, nya!"

Musashi glared but turned her direction to Kojiro instead of Nyaasu in order to pull her partner further down, for his head was just a little too high up in the leaves.

"Hey!" he squeaked.

Musashi held a warning finger to her lip as Kojiro freed his arm roughly from her hold.

"We're going to jump right out anyway, so what does it matter?" Kojiro whispered.

"Shush!" Musashi hissed, and she turned once more to Nyaasu whose eyes followed the sight of their prey as they neared.

With a rather childish grin, Nyaasu lifted his finger emphatically above the play button, and then pushed down.

"Piiiiiiiiii! Pika! Piiii!" the speakers cried fearfully, frantically even.

Mere seconds passed before the kids could be heard.

"What's that?" gasped one.

"It sounds like a pikachu!" exclaimed another.

"Come on! Let's go see!" cried the main brat himself.

"Pi, pi, pi!" cried Pikachu — the real one.

Kojiro visibly held his breath, and Musashi smiled.

Here they came, the unsuspecting fools. The boy, the girl, her brother, the other guy, and of course Pikachu! They ran along the path trying to figure out where the frightened pikachu was, little suspecting the tape of pokémon sounds that Nyaasu had obtained through an obscure catalogue. Their feet on the ground pounded only a few yards away now. Time for action!

"Three," whispered Musashi, and was satisfied when Kojiro joined in to the last two numbers.

"Two, One …"

Out they leapt!

And they had liftoff …

"If anyone asks us this or that …"

"The answer we'll give is society's sympathy …"

"For the sake of preventing world destruction …"

"For the sake of protecting world peace …"

"To penetrate the evils of love and truth …"

"The lovely and charming villains …"

"Musashi!"

"Kojiro!"

"Team Rocket travel to any—"

"Piiiiiiiiii! Pika! Piiii!"

Awkward freeze-frame cued!

How dare Nyaasu interrupt the motto with that stupid tape! How dare he?! Why, Musashi ought to throw him out of that tree right now, except when she threw a fiery glare to the bough upon which he had been seated Nyaasu had disappeared.

She let out a growl.

"_Nyaasu_ …" steamed Kojiro through clenched teeth and shaking through clenched fists.

"Team Rocket!" shouted the boy, running straight up to the still angrily recovering Kojiro and Musashi and thrusting an accusing finger at them so close it almost touched them. "Where are you hiding that pikachu?! What disgusting thing are you up to now?!"

The others quickly agreed.

"Pi_ka_chu!" growled the real Pikachu as he leapt onto the boy's shoulder.

"Ha!" exclaimed Musashi, kicking Kojiro's ankle to get his focus off of Nyaasu's abandoned tree (his mouth had been gaping fishlike before the collision with the boot). "Little boy!"

"Ouch!" Kojiro snapped and then quickly cleared his throat and grinned widely as he turned appropriately towards the situation on hand. "Like we'd tell you our plan!"

Musashi rolled her eyes, but quickly turned the expression into a vile sneer. "So you might as well surrender _your_ pikachu to Team Rocket too or—"

"Piiiiiiiiii! Pika! Piiii!" The strange calls of the tape echoed through the valley once more.

_I'll get him for this!_ Musashi thought. That was twice Nyaasu interrupted her. She almost forgot the plan in her anger as the boy and his friends began pushing past her and her cohort.

"Hey! Get back here!" she snapped. "We're not finished with you!"

"Where's Nyaasu hiding that pikachu?" the boy demanded.

Kojiro laughed. "You'll never find him!"

Along the path and into the brush from which the sound had come, they ran. It was almost a surprise that Pikachu fell for it too, but Nyaasu had been very particular about the sound chosen. According to him the sound was that of a very young pikachu, and (although the true owner of the voice was acting) he was calling desperately and vaguely for help.

"You'll never find him," Kojiro continued with as deep and bold a voice as he ever did manage; though, he really sounded more like a rogue TV announcer than a truly diabolical villain. "And we'll get your Pikachu too, you stupid kids, and—"

"Stop that," muttered Musashi.

Kojiro stopped instantly, knowing full well that pain would be in store for him if he did not, but he must also have seen the overreacting of his behavior too. At least, Musashi hoped he did.

"Okay," he said quietly.

Musashi rolled her eyes.

#

"Piiiiiiiiii! Pika! Piiii!"

Here they came!

Leaping away from the tape player, Nyaasu darting into the bushes, and as quietly and speedily as he could, he slunk along where the children ran. Everything still spilled out as planned. Even Pikachu ran just where Team Rocket wanted him to be, running just off to the side of the kid. As Nyaasu darted up ahead a little ways, he hunkered down and waited. Nearer, and nearer they came until — scoop! Up went Pikachu into the little, soundproof, electric-proof jar of Nyaasu's.

Blinking in confusion for a second or two, it did not take long for Pikachu to realize what had happened, and with his narrowing in on Nyaasu's widely grinning face, he let out a thunder shock.

But in vain.

Nyaasu laughed, but cut himself off as he waited to listen to the kids as they discovered the source of the pitiful cries after which they had pursued.

"A tape player?!" cried the girl's younger brother.

"It's a trap!" cried the tallest kid.

"But what for?" asked the girl. "Nothing's happening.

The main brat growled with rage, and Nyaasu could hear him kick the tape player off into the weeds. "Whatever they're up to I'll—" his voice cut off. "Hey! Where's Pikachu!?"

"Nya! Time for a getaway!" said Nyaasu, and off he ran.

A little too late though.

"Hey, I see Nyaasu!" cried the girl.

Great! And the plan was going perfectly too. Simple. Effective. Rotten. Too bad …

He raced off into the brush and even as he disappeared down a row of hedges he could hear the release of pokéballs. He could already feel the pain coming, but he did not give up just yet. Up ahead he saw buildings and a street, and with one extra boost of speed he darted behind one building and rounded another hoping to lose his pursuers.

Slowing a bit, he dared a look behind him. He saw and heard no sign of them. Clutching the jar with one arm he wiped his brow with another.

Phew! Now all he had to do was get back to Musashi and Kojiro and—

Now he happened to turn in front of him, and all time froze … mouth wide open, pupils tiny specs and all claws out with the jar in his paws so that they screeched slightly on the glass.

"I've killed monsters like you."

Tailmon.

She stood directly in front of him larger than life itself.

"_You_," Nyaasu whispered, but his voice quickly rose. "Get out of here, you'll ruin everything nya!"

"Release him," said Tailmon quietly.

Nyaasu snorted. "N-yeah, right! Nya!"

With a graceful swish of her paw, Tailmon snatched the jar away leaving Nyaasu only to stare dumbfounded at a pair of empty paws in front of him before Tailmon released Pikachu.

Pikachu, more than a little confused himself, stared at Tailmon for a moment with uncertainty.

"Pi … ka … pikachu …" he said with the cock of an ear. This meant something along the lines of, "Uh, thanks, I think."

Nyaasu's eyes shifted from Pikachu to Tailmon, his mouth still as wide open as ever.

"Just go back to the boy," she told Pikachu.

With a quick nod, Pikachu bounded away.

Still Nyaasu had nothing to say for the moment as he watched the last of Pikachu's tail round the corner. Then slowly he turned to face Tailmon once more. It took a while before Nyaasu found his voice again, but when he finally did he nearly exploded.

"NYYYAAHH!" he growled. "What did you do that for nya?! Now Musashi and Kojiro are gunna kill me, nya!"

"You're human friends?" asked Tailmon skeptically as she crossed her arms. For a moment she almost had a look of pity. "Are you bound to one of them?"

Nyaasu clenched his fists at his side and growled again. "Who else would I be talking about?!" he snapped. "And they aren't my friends! Nya!" He chose to flat out ignore the last question.

"Then you're just as lost as they are, aren't you?" said Tailmon tersely. "Digimon … or pokémon, whatever you call yourselves, helping humans do evil. It's sick."

"Pfft, you make it sound like they're the innocent ones, nya," said Nyaasu. "Did you see what they did to me this morning?"

"I saw enough of them yesterday," muttered Tailmon. "Those humans are completely deluded."

Nyaasu laughed humorlessly. "You're telling me?" he demanded throwing his paws to his chest emphatically.

"Where I come from a digimon has a duty to do all in his or her power to help the human they're bound to," said Tailmon. "You fail miserably."

"I'm not a digimon, nya!" snapped Nyaasu.

"Yes, I know, you call yourselves 'pokémon'," said Tailmon. "Whatever you are, you're just as sick if not sicker than those humans."

"Ha, you could never understand me!" snapped Nyaasu. "Don't even try nya! You don't know why I am the way I am! And as for humans! Nya! Humans. They're hardly honorable beings. Have you seen Musashi and Kojiro? Do you know who runs Team Rocket? Do you know what even people who aren't part of a team or gang are capable of, even on a sunny, happy day at the ball park, to a poor creature so hungry he's hallucinating ball into food? Do you have any idea? Sure, some humans are great, but that's not a general rule! They're mostly just stupid, nya! They aren't worth spit."

Suddenly Nyaasu felt a sharp pain in his shoulders, and he saw that Tailmon was nearly on top of him with her clawed paws digging into him.

"Take it back!" she hissed.

Now Nyaasu was very afraid. His voice had completely abandoned him, and if it had not been for the tight hold on his shoulders keeping him upright he surely would have collapsed into a heap at Tailmon's feet.

"I said, take it back!" she cried. "You have no idea what you just said!"

"Nya! Nya! Alright! Alright!" shouted Nyaasu shakily. "I take it back! I do! I do! Just let me go! Please! I take it back, nya! I love humans, nya! They're the best, nya!"

Tailmon growled but, though a tad reluctant, released him.

With a heavy sigh of relief Nyaasu let himself drop onto the ground on his knees.

"What's wrong with you? Nya?" asked Nyaasu.

"The better question is, what's wrong with you," said Tailmon. "Coward. You're not even worth it. You're nothing but a little worm."

"Then if I'm not worth it, why do you keep bugging me, nya?" Nyaasu wanted to know.

"Well, I wasn't going to let you take away that poor, little creature," said Tailmon.

"Poor, little … do you know what he does to _me_ every other day, nya?"

"No matter what he does to you, it's only to protect himself," Tailmon retorted. "And I don't blame him for it."

"Not all the time!"

"Well, if you weren't such a creep."

"What do you want from me?!" cried Nyaasu. "What, you want me to change? Is that what you want? Well, sorry, you're pretty but not that pretty."

"I'll give you a chance to rephrase that statement."

Nyaasu gulped.

"Are you gunna rephrase it?"

"Were you serious about that killing guys like me thing, nya?" asked Nyaasu timidly.

By the look on her face, Nyaasu figured she had meant it only too well. He assumed her to be bluntly honest about everything. Maybe she would have been better off a liar.

He stole a glance behind him and then turned back to Tailmon.

There was only one thing left for him to do in a situation like this …

"HEEEELLLLLPPPPP!" Nyaasu screamed, bolting across the lawn and diving into the brush.

Sticks and weeds smacked up against him, but he hardly noticed as he sped off into the wood.

"MUSASHI! KOJIRO! NYAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

He almost did not notice when he sped right past the brat and his friends who were just at that moment being reunited with Pikachu. They looked with wide eyes up at the flash of fur and frantically waving arms flying past as if he had rocket boosters on his feet.

"NYA! NYA! NYA! NYA! NYA! NYA! NYA!"

"What's wrong with him?" asked the girl's brother.

Splashing through the river, he sputtered and gagged, but his legs only paused a few seconds before he started up again.

"Musashi! Kojiro!"

He dashed into a ditch and zoomed out the other side. He might have run right up a wall had there been one. Then with a final break in the greenery he saw them, and with a great leap he landed on the unsuspecting head of Kojiro. All Nyaasu's claws sprang out and all his fur straight up in the air.

"NYA!"

"AH!" Kojiro cried, both from the claws and the start. "Get off! You crazy—!"

"She's nuts!" Nyaasu interrupted. "She's nuts and she's trying to get me, nyah!"

Although he put his claws back in, Nyaasu refused to get off of Kojiro's head. If fact, he grabbed all the harder as Kojiro tried to pry him off.

"Who's trying to get you?" Musashi demanded, hands trust upon her hips.

Pop! Finally Kojiro had success and with Nyaasu off his head, he thrust him onto the ground.

"That pokémon we tried to catch earlier," said Nyaasu, landing on his feet. He twiddled his fingers nervously and looked from side to side as if Tailmon might appear at any moment. "She wants to kill me! She said so!"

Musashi frowned. "And, uh … where's Pikachu?"

"Uh …"

"I thought you said this was your better plan," continued Musashi, "Now neither plan's a success."

"Nyah …" Nyaasu started again.

Musashi made to shove him into the ground, but Nyaasu leapt away. Unfortunately for him, Kojiro took up where his partner had left off and shoved Nyaasu into the ground himself.

"Stupid!" he shouted.

* * *

Note: The moto is from the Japanese.


	4. White Rabbit … or Cat as the Case May Be

CHAPTER FOUR:

White Rabbit … or Cat as the Case May Be

"But why you?" asked Kojiro.

Of course, Nyaasu had not given every detail about his meeting with Tailmon, but he gave as much non personal information as he could possible give. Well to Kojiro anyway. Musashi had left a while ago fuming. The events of yesterday still hung strongly over everyone's mind – not that it was the first time they had failed so consequtively, but there was something about the near victory with the odd creature that had the mood of the entire gang less than par, and it went on into the afternoon; though in Nyaasu's case it had more to do with the fact that their former captive wanted to kill him! Even if Musashi had not been so angry, Nyaasu knew he would have felt the same as he had now with or without her help. In fact, it was Kojiro _not_ being as upset as he should be that made Nyaasu annoyed more than anything else did.

"_How should I know_!?" Nyaasu shrieked. Kojiro just did not seem to understand the seriousness of this situation.

Quickly, Kojiro held up his hands in his defense, and stepped back a pace or two.

"Come on, Nyaasu, it's not my fault she's trying to kill you," he said. "Besides, maybe she gave up by now. I mean, she could have easily gotten you last night if she'd really wanted to."

Nyaasu sniffed. "Maybe it's cuz I'm the brains, nya," he suggested as if Kojiro had said nothing since his question before. "All I know is that no one would bother going after _you_. You're hardly worth it, nya."

Kojiro winced irritably.

"What do you mean?" he demanded. "I do plenty!"

"Not anything that's a cause for respect, nya," said Nyaasu with a careless shrug.

"That's not true, Nyaasu!"

Now Kojiro was upset. Was Nyaasu happy now? No, but he felt pettily satisfied as the little creep he happened to be.

"Well, you can't exactly be taken seriously," Nyaasu went on. He did not bother looking up as he squinted at the bolts of the machine he was starting to assemble. The pouty scowl twisting Kojiro's face could be pictured well enough anyway; Nyaasu did not have to see it and preferred not to.

"_What_?!" cried Kojiro. He fumed a moment in silence before he pointed out quickly, "Well, Weezing and Victreebel respect me, so there!"

"Nya …" Nyaasu shrugged. "I don't kny-ow …"

"What are you talking about?" Kojiro demanded.

"Victreebel _does_ always jump on your head," Nyaasu pointed out, "I don't think you could really call that respect, nya."

"Well, Weezing respects me!"

"Meh, nya," said Nyaasu. He stuck out his tongue with concentration as he tightened a bolt.

"'Meh, nya' what?" Kojiro grumbled, crossing his arms and turning away.

"Meh, nya, that's not how Weezing put it," replied Nyaasu lightly.

Stiffening slightly a moment, Kojiro slowly returned to Nyaasu and stepped hesitantly toward him. "Why?" he asked, raising a brow with deep uncertainty. "What did he say?"

"No," said Nyaasu shaking his head and closing his eyes importantly. "I better nya-ot, nya. For your sake."

"Nyaasu …" Kojiro hissed. "What did he say? C'mon!"

Clearing his throat a little and tightening another bolt, Nyaasu acted as though he had not heard at first, but after a moment, he put down his wrench and sat down on the ground before his mechanical project (they were building yet another robotic device that Nyaasu came up with to suck food off of tables without anyone noticing.) Then he said, "Weezing likes you, sure, nya. He couldn't think better of you as far as treatment goes, but he says he would hate to leave you alone for any reason, because you couldn't survive without him, nya."

Kojiro sighed with obvious relief. Perhaps a little too much.

"That's not so bad," he said. "That just means he cares. Stupid, Nyaasu. For a moment I thought—"

"I'm not done, nya," Nyaasu said.

Kojiro tightened up once more.

"And just because he cares does not mean he respects you, nya. He was just saying the last time we were able to chat how he wished you had more competence. Actually he was talking to Arbok, and Arbok sympathized with him, nya. Weezing goes on and says that someone has to take care of you because you can't take care of yourself and that—"

"Did he really say all this?" demanded Kojiro, now stepping closer as a warning to Nyaasu more than because he cared what he had to say anymore.

Nyaasu was not in the least bit threatened. "Every word," he retorted. "Though this is paraphrasing. It loses something in translation, nya."

With a low growl, Kojiro gave Nyaasu an unexpected shove. "You're making this all up! Don't put words in Weezing's mouth!"

"Don't shove me!" hissed Nyaasu, grabbing Kojiro by the shirt. "Besides what should you care about what Weezing says? He's not the brightest thing in the world anyway! But I suppose all that poison and toxic waste doesn't allow for much brain development, nya!"

"Take that back!" shouted Kojiro.

"What are you two whining about now?"

Kojiro and Nyaasu both looked up as Musashi suddenly appeared. She could care less about the answer to her carelessly thrown question and instead of looking at her cohorts, she squatted down and inspected the machine Nyaasu had been working on.

"It's kinda puny," she muttered.

Nyaasu rolled his eyes. "Of course it's small," he replied. "How else are we supposed to sneak up on people with it while their eating?"

"I thought you said you were making something to benefit Team Rocket," Musashi pointed out.

"Do you know what Nyaasu just said about Weezing!?"

Neither paid Kojiro any attention.

"Full stomachs _are_ beneficial," said Nyaasu, eyeing Musashi with a sly smirk.

"Hmm," grumbled Musashi. "Is that all you two ever think about is food?"

"_You_ think about it an awful lot!" snapped Nyaasu. "And with good reason … we're always starving to death, nya!"

"I wasn't thinking about food just now," muttered Kojiro, slumping against a tree with a glower that might as well have fried up the ends of his boots. "And Weezing _does_ respect me."

Nyaasu shook his head. The whole situation could be described as nothing less than pitiful. He turned away, thinking of something unhelpful to add to the situation as well, when he thought he saw something white move out the across the field in between the trees where the trio huddled. He must have looked greatly shaken too, for both Kojiro and Musashi noticed the change in Nyaasu's demeanor and turned to look at him curiously.

Before either could ask, however, Nyaasu had already bolted out of their hiding spot and out onto the field after Tailmon.

Tailmon did not attempt to flee. Nyaasu hardly proved to be any sort of threat, and she watched silently as Nyaasu approached with all fury. He zoomed up to her with a flame behind his tail and stopped in front of her smoking and with eyes blazing and teeth set dangerously.

"_What are you spying on us for_?" Nyaasu screamed.

"I'm not," said Tailmon simply.

"Then why are you here?" he hissed.

"I was walking by!" Tailmon returned.

"Nyu, uh, nya!"

"It's true!" snapped Tailmon. "I don't care if you believe me. Go away!"

"No, not until you say you'll leave me alone, nya!" And without knowing full well what he did, Nyaasu leapt forward, claws at the ready, and he attempted to land right on top of Tailmon with a full fury swipes.

He just barely missed, but now Tailmon held her claws at the ready. It might have ended right then and there. She might not have killed him, Nyaasu supposed, after all, she had honestly said he had not been worth it, but that did not mean those deadly claws, far bigger, far deeper than his own, would not cause some serious pain that would result in days of soaking in pain killer and herbs and other medicinal things. However, it was at this point that Nyaasu tripped, and it was this trip that caused him to tumble, and he tumbled right out of view through a strange hole in the fabric of space.

"Nyaasu!" cried Tailmon in alarm. She leapt forward, and waved a paw where Nyaasu had disappeared and was surprised to see that her own paw disappeared as she stuck it in there.

So she would be getting back home, after all. Hopefully this was not a one way exit, though.

#

It was not so much that Nyaasu began to run away that had Kojiro and Musashi confused. How could that surprise them after they saw the white creature in the field? What seemed a little strange was that he ran _toward_ the creature who he claimed wanted to kill him, and for a moment Musashi thought grumblingly that Nyaasu had been lying and that he really wanted to run off with the pretty white cat. When she saw the two creatures begin to ready themselves for battle, however, she had to change her mind.

She also decided that in the best interest of Team Rocket, that they had better rescue the idiot. After all, he was part of the team.

Kojiro had already made the decision before her however.

"Come on! Let's get Nyaasu!" he cried.

Jumping through the brush before Musashi could say anything, he held a pokéball in his hand and shouted at the creature. "Hey, leave Nyaasu alone!"

Musashi stood upright as well, and chased after Kojiro. She had to admit, that she would hate to see Nyaasu get seriously hurt, or worse …

Yet as they neared the two creatures, she and Kojiro stopped in shock as Nyaasu completely vanished. They held their breath as they watched the other cat follow the example, and they could not help but gape in amazement for a moment or two, before they finally came to their senses.

Biting her lip Musashi turned to Kojiro whose teeth clenched together with worry.

"What was that?" he asked softly.

"I don't know," admitted Musashi, but she aimed to find out.

She hurried up the small hill just as a hot gust of wind blew past, and she braced herself against it a moment before squatting down just before the area where the cats had disappeared.

"There's no hole," said Kojiro.

"Why would there be a hole here?" Musashi grumbled.

Kojiro shrugged. "Because someone dug it."

"The only one who would do that is us," said Musashi, patting the ground delicately in spite of her words, "and we didn't dig one."

Suddenly she gasped as she saw her hand disappear. She pulled it back as if she had been stung, and clutched it with her other hand fearfully. That was when she noticed that if one turned one's head just right one could see as if looking through a tunnel, and as she leaned down to inspect it, for it was right as ground level. An entirely different scene lay beyond.

Kojiro soon did the same, hugging Musashi who hugged him back.

"Should we … go in?" Kojiro asked and released her again.

"Of course we should go in," said Musashi flippantly. "It's obviously a cloaked tunnel of some kind. Maybe Team Magma or Team Aqua built it."

"Then won't we get in trouble?" asked Kojiro.

"If we go in, grab Nyaasu and leave, no one has to know we were ever there," she retorted.

Kojiro did not look so sure.

"What?" demanded Musashi.

"I don't know," he muttered. "I just have this feeling that this isn't normal, that's all."

"Ignore it," snapped Musashi, and she refused to stand around a moment longer. "It's not the first time."

Kojiro tried to protest as she began to go into the tunnel, but there was nothing he could do to stop her. He had no choice but to follow, which Musashi was satisfied that he did, but once on the other side, she realized too late, that they could not come back out the way that had come, for the view of the other side had vanished.

"Huh?!" she cried.

She waved her hand this way and then that way.

Kojiro leapt right into the area from which they had come but only landed on the gravelly ground of this new scene, which was nothing like the soft grassy hill they had left. He collapsed on his knees in defeat and grabbed the old knotted tree in front of him as he sobbed, "Musashi, what are we going to do?"

Musashi felt on the verge of screaming, for she realized that she had absolutely no idea.

* * *

Fiona: Finally they're in the Digital World XD

Hope you've been enjoying so far.


	5. Disrupting the Native Scenery

CHAPTER FIVE:

Disrupting the Native Scenery

With a loud moan, Nyaasu lifted his head from the ground where he had knocked out upon entering the scene. He looked to his left, he looked to his right. Nothing looked familiar. Nothing looked Hoenn as far as he knew. Or Kanto, or Johto for that matter. Not even the Orange League Islands. The rocks, the trees, the moss, even the sky looked different somehow. Paler. Wilder. Older. The world felt somewhat majestic too in its own mysterious way, but it was definitely nowhere Nyaasu had ever seen. The unusual noises overhead did not help make his mood any brighter either. He shrunk his head in the weeds in which he had woken up, and he hoped whatever made those sounds would not see him.

Then he heard the shuffling of rocks directly behind him.

"Nyah!" he screamed, his voice echoing in all directions.

Well, now whoever made the noises in the trees knew where he was, but he had temporarily forgotten about them as he beheld the white cat, Tailmon standing in front of him.

He gulped, and shook with rage, if not a little fear as well.

"Why'd you bring me here, nya!?" he snarled.

"I didn't!" Tailmon snapped. "You fell in."

"But is this you're region?" demanded Nyaasu. "Is this where you live? You must have brought me here with your psychic abilities or something, nya."

"I can't do anything like that," Tailmon protested with a wave of her paw. "Now be quiet! We don't know where we are yet, and I've been gone a while so things have probably changed, if your world moves like Hikari's world."

"Nya?!" Nyaasu cried angrily. "World? This is another dimension?! Is that what you're saying, nya? You're crazy!"

A strange growl sounded from above them, and Nyaasu leap in terror upon Tailmon.

"Ack!" she cried, and after a moment of staring down at the quivering pokémon tightly clinging to her waist, she sighed.

"Get off," she said. "It's nothing to worry about. I'll let you know if there is."

Nyaasu released his hold, and looked away sulkily. "Nya …"

"Now come on, we should get out of here before something really does show up," Tailmon said, motioning forward.

Nyaasu shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere with you, nya! You want to kill me!"

"I didn't say I was going to kill you!" Tailmon snapped. "And you're hardly a threat now even if I had said that!"

Nyaasu growled and turned roughly in the opposite direction.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tailmon demanded.

"Why should you care?" asked Nyaasu without looking back as he continued marching away. "You don't want me alive anyway. You're probably glad I'm here. Well, too bad! I'm going to find Kojiro and Musashi by myself."

"But they aren't here," said Tailmon. "They're back in Hoenn, or whatever you call it, and you can't just—"

"Yes, I can!" Nyaasu hissed, shooting a deadly glance behind him. "I don't need your help, nya."

"Fine then, see if I care!" Tailmon retorted.

"Fine, nya!" and he left.

Little did he know that Kojiro and Musashi would show up an hour and a half after him in the very spot he had left behind him at the one-way entrance. Apparently time did work as Tailmon had suggested.

#

Nyaasu jumped at a sudden noise. He happened to do this an awful lot, but it could not be helped. How could he be blamed? It seemed as though the very trees had eyes, and once in a while he had a feeling of being in the monstrous scene of _Snow White and the Seven Dwarves_ when Snow White ran through the woods. Although he was not running, every log, every rock, and every breeze blowing the leaves seemed to incite fear into him, and with evening drawing on, the feeling of being watched only worsened. He felt that at any given moment something would swoop out from the blackened surroundings and eat him for supper.

It made him wish that Tailmon was still with him, but it was far too late for that now as he wandered on, and he wandered on until he could wander no more. He collapsed under a tree and hid as best he could between a very fat root and the dirt. Exhausted, he fell asleep faster than he would have expected, and he slept long after the sun rose.

Although his sleep had rested him and prepared him for an eventful day, it probably would have been better had he woken up at least fifteen minute earlier …

"Who are you?" a strange gravelly voice demanded. "What are you doing here?"

It was not the he should talk when it came to strange, squeaky, gravelly voices, however.

"N-n-neeaaa?" moaned Nyaasu as he opened a sleepy eye.

"Who are you and what do you think you're doing? You're trespassing on chumlimon turf!" the voice snarled more severely this time.

"Mmmm …" Nyaasu growled, rolling over onto his side, and curling his tail around him against the morning chill.

He felt a sharp jab in his back.

"Nya!" screamed Nyaasu leaping around, and he almost got whapped in the face with a stick as he did.

"Yeah, you!" shouted the creature holding the stick. "Who do you think you are?"

Red, pug-faced, wide-mouthed, and with a funny smell hanging about him, the little creature was not a pleasant sight for any time of day much less first thing in the morning.

"Buzz off, nya!" Nyaasu snarled trying to pull the stick away, but this time the creature did end up in smacking him over the head. "Ow!"

The creature laughed. "Hear that, guys? The lonely digimon wants us to buzz off!"

Guys …?

Uh oh!

More of this creature's kind appeared from the brush, and they looked particularly angry as they began forming a tight circle around Nyaasu's hovel beneath the root. Their teeth clenched and the claws were held ready. Their pug faces tightened to a degree that made Nyaasu think that perhaps they might scrunch their faces clean off.

"Nya …" Nyaasu gulped. "Oh. Oh! This is _you're_ turf?" And he laughed. "Oh, why didn't you say so, nya?" Very carefully, he rose, the sharp eyes of the chumlimon following his movements eerily in unison, but the creatures made no attempt to stop him just yet. They hardly moved a muscle.

"I think I'll just be going."

Nyaasu turned sharply around the tree, but just as he made to run, he ran instead right into another chumlimon slightly larger than the others and slightly more pug-faced and meaner.

"Not so fast, trespasser!" he snapped, leaning in very close to Nyaasu's face so that he could feel his hot breath on his whiskers; the breath did not smell all too wonderful, but his teeth were what worried Nyaasu more.

As the creature spoke his teeth would have bit right into Nyaasu's face had he not stepped back a pace.

"What should we do with him?" demanded a voice from the throng.

"Kill him!" shouted one.

"Toss him into the ocean," chimed another.

"Rip his whispers off!" cried yet a third.

The large chumlimon shook his head.

"No, no, my fellow chumlimon. We should take him to Picodevimon-san."

Nyaasu frowned. "Does everyone here's name end with 'mon', nya?"

The eyes of the large chumlimon turned haughty, and he flicked Nyaasu's koban with the tip of his claw. "You don't have any right to talk back." He straightened back and smiled a moment; then with a savage roar he ordered, "Tie him up and let's go!" And with a whirl of his ragged cloak he turned away.

"What? Nya?! No!" cried Nyaasu, but he was quickly overpowered.

Paws were bound painfully behind him, mouth was gagged, tail was tied against his back, and his hind paws were strapped together. Then just to be sure (or maybe just for fun) the chumlimon wrapped Nyaasu up some more until he looked like a mummy save for his gagged face. He wriggled and squirmed, but to no avail. Lastly, the chumlimon with the stick hopped forward and whacked Nyaasu on the back of his head, and Nyaasu went out like a light.

#

"Wake up, you fool! Wake up!"

When Nyaasu came to his senses, he felt the slap of angry hands on his face. At first he almost thought they belonged to Musashi, but he knew quickly after that the voice did not belong to either Musashi or Kojiro, and as he opened his eyes angrily, he only came face to face with another chumlimon.

"Lemme go, nya!" Nyaasu ordered.

The chumlimon dropped him on the ground, and Nyaasu, still wrapped up like a spider's lunch, aside from the gag which had been removed from his face, could not lift up anything more than his head. After falling face-first on the ground, he did so, and he saw a most horrid little creature that made the chumlimon almost look cute in comparison.

Seated leisurely on a tiny throne of a chair, the round thing with golbat-like wing, huge skarmory-like feet, disturbingly nyaasu-like jaws, and deep penetratingly yellow eyes stared down at Nyaasu with disdainful disinterest. He had been previously eating yakitori held by the stick in a foot, and he dropped this at the foot of his throne as his vision turned to the largest chumlimon and then back to Nyaasu.

"What is _that_?" he wanted to know. "It looks like a wimpy, stupid tailmon."

"I'm not a tailmon, I'm … I'm—"

A chumlimon kicked Nyaasu in the head. "Speak when spoken to!"

"_Who_ are you?" asked the creature.

Nyaasu groaned and then growled before replying, "I'm Nya … Nyaasu … mon."

"Nyaasumon?" repeated the creature skeptically.

Nyaasu nodded readily.

"He was trespassing on our land!" shouted a chumlimon.

"Yeah!" agreed another. "We found him snooping around just outside the village!"

"Yeah?" demanded Picodevimon,

"That's a lie, nya!" Nyaasu cried, but again he was kicked roughly in the head.

"We were thinking of throwing him off a cliff," came a voice somewhere behind Nyaasu.

"No, just you were!" snapped another. "I say we have some fun with him!"

"Quiet!" boomed the biggest chumlimon.

"Thank you, noble head of the chumlimon," muttered Picodevimon, and bouncing off his throne he stepped over Nyaasu with a wide, freaky grin.

"If you don't watch it," Nyaasu growled. "You're all going to get it."

"Uh, I highly doubt that," laughed Picodevimon. "I'm thinking maybe the wrack myself. What were you doing snooping around here anyway? And I never heard of a nyaasumon before. Where did you come from?" He paused. "Oh, and you might want to be truthful for your sake. These guys get pretty ugly when it comes to dishonesty. Isn't that right?"

He looked up at the chumlimon, who heartily agreed.

"You should know, Picodevimon-san," said one, "like we did to the last digimon who betrayed us."

"Good thing we have you here to help us get rid of traitors and trespassers without their vengeful friends coming to get us," said another.

"Yes, yes, I know," said Picodevimon, waving a foot aside as he had no hands or paws with which to perform this action. "So, what do you have to say for yourself, _Nyaasumon_." He said the name quite scornfully and spat it out literally on Nyaasu's almost nonexistent nose.

"Team Rocket will get you, nya!" snapped Nyaasu. "You'll be sorry! I'm a member of Team Rocket, nya!"

"What in the world is Team Rocket?" snapped Picodevimon in return.

"You know!" growled Nyaasu. "They're a great big organization with footsoldiers, field agents, a vengeful crime lord, and they'll come and destroy you for capturing one of their top agents!"

The chumlimon started to look uneasy, and a murmuring rose among them.

"Now, now," said Picodevimon, pausing only to kick Nyaasu in the head himself, "he's obviously bluffing, and even if it were true. How could they find him?"

"You think, Picodevimon-san?" asked the biggest chumlimon.

"Ha! Just you wait till Musashi and Kojiro get here, nya!" snapped Nyaasu. "They're my co-agents! We're never far apart, and when they find you, they'll rip you to shreds with Weezing and Arbok! And according to Tailmon you have to respect them, nya!"

Picodevimon's cheek instantly dissipated and turned into a deadly leer causing Nyaasu to instantly regret his words; though he was not sure why, but before the gruesome creature could say anything the chumlimon starting worrying all over again.

"Those agents may still be around, Picodevimon-san!" growled the head chumlimon.

"What do we do?" the others gasped.

The entire cave of a structure grew into an uproar.

The chumlimon screamed, they cried, they shivered, they pulled fearfully on each others' necks almost strangling one another with their large claws. Finally Picodevimon recovered, and throwing back his head, he shouted, "Idiots! All of you just SHUT UP!"

Everyone froze.

Returning to Nyaasu, Picodevimon grabbed Nyaasu's head with a clawed foot and lifted it close to his face. In vain did Nyaasu try to turn away, and he ended with his face mere inches away from the other, eyes almost touching each other.

"Who are you, really?" hissed Picodevimon. "I warn you, you better tell me. 'Musashi' … 'Kojiro' … those aren't digimon names. Come to think of it, neither are 'Weezing' or 'Arbok', and what have you to do with Tailmon? Why should we respect Musashi and Kojiro?"

Nyaasu gulped. "Isn't that what you have to do … digimon I mean, nya. Respect and obey humans?" He forced a threatening growl. "You better let me go, nya!"

Picodevimon slammed Nyaasu's face so hard into the ground, he almost passed out again.

"_Nya_ …" he moaned bitterly.

"WHAT!?" Picodevimon screamed. "You've seen humans!? You're _friends_ with humans!? HERE?!"

Now the throng really lost it, and there was no controlling it this time even if Picodevimon tried, but this time, he completely ignored them. There was not much in the cave to wreck, but if there had been nothing would have remained; in their panic they would have destroyed everything.

Leaning down on the ground beside Nyaasu's throbbing face, Picodevimon grinned even more disgustingly than before.

"Nyaasumon …" he said just barely loud enough for Nyaasu to hear over the din, and he chuckled. "This has all been a big misunderstanding. I apologize. I hope they didn't handle you too roughly."

"Not any rougher than you, nya," Nyaasu grumbled.

"Oh, I'm sorry, really, you just surprised me," said Picodevimon in a tone that was almost believable. "But tell me, Nyaasumon, are you trying to get me to believe that you actually seen humans. You live and work with a human being, homo sapien, a living breathing child? Is that what you're saying?"

"Uh …" Nyaasu said, "that depends on your definition of child, nya, but … if nya-ineteen/twenty counts in your definition than, n-yeah I do, so if you let me go nya-ow I might forget this ever happened."

"And," asked Picodevimon ignoring the last bit of what Nyaasu had said, "if we keep you here, the humans will come looking for you, isn't that right?"

"Yes, it is," said Nyaasu with a haughty sniff. "So you better let me go right nya-ow, nya!"

Picodevimon turned to the rest of the crew and flew lightly onto his throne.

"Kids!" he said cheerily.

Most still weren't listening, but he continued anyway.

"I have an announcement to make."

"You heard Picodevimon-san!" shouted the largest one through the mess. "Listen up, you chum heads!

Slowly everyone calmed and turned to their wise and respected advisor.

Nyaasu smiled, happy that now he could get out of this mess. Thank Team Rocket for unwittingly getting him out of this one! Sure Giovanni would never have sent the cavalry out to get him even if he had known about the situation, but he could save him just as well without knowing anything.

"There's been a change of plans!" said Picodevimon. "All that stuff about chasing out the inhabitants of the nearby forest is put off for something bigger."

"Nya?" Nyaasu wondered out loud.

"Why, Picodevimon-san?" the chumlimon asked. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to take that digimon there," he said pointing to the ruffled heap on the floor, "tie him to that pole over there, and hunker down until the humans show up!"

"Nyah!?" cried Nyaasu, "but—"

Perhaps he had rejoiced too soon.

Picodevimon held up a claw. "Then the real fun begins, because boys and girls, if what this digimon says is true, we're gunna have a lot of work to do, and it'll involve a bigger picture than what we have now! There hasn't been a human here for at least a thousand years, but now we have a mission: to stop them before they get too far! We have their digimon, and like he said, they can't be far behind!"

"Hurrah!" shouted the largest chumlimon, and the others soon followed his example.

"No, wait!" cried Nyaasu. "You're supposed to let me go, nya! Wait!"

Picodevimon grinned insanely wicked in Nyaasu's direction, and Nyaasu felt on the verge of tears as the chumlimon dragged him to the pole.

"Wait!" he sobbed. "Nya! Wait!"

The tears broke free now.

Nyaasu was sure he knew why Tailmon had tried to warn him not to run away from her and why she hated bad, creepy things like him. But surely in the past Nyaasu had never been anything compared to these creeps.

* * *

Just in case you're wondering, I made up the chumlimon XD


	6. All Pokémon Can Talk Here

CHAPTER SIX:

All the Pokémon Can Talk Here

Tailmon sighed heavily as she stared down at Nyaasu from the window above. She had warned him, and now here she found him, bound to a pole and crying miserably to himself in the empty stone chamber. Looking behind her at a sudden noise, she ducked along the ledge outside and hid in the shadow, but she did not have to worry too much. Chumlimon were not very smart. She would still have to be careful when she would drop into the chamber to rescue Nyaasu, though. He was just lucky they had not killed him as chumlimon were apt to do.

_Well, here it goes_, she thought, and she slipped through the paneless window and dropped onto the floor.

Nyaasu spun his head around.

"Nya, Tail—"

Tailmon held a paw to his face. "Sh …" she whispered. "I'm going to get you out of this, but you have to be quiet."

Nyaasu tried to blink away the tears, but they covered his face now. His fur was soaked with tears, and his face burnt with embarrassment as he looked at her.

With a quick act of her claw, Tailmon, not paying the least bit attention to Nyaasu's hurt pride, slit the ropes, and Nyaasu leapt to his feet.

"Oh, Tailmon, nya, am I glad to see you," he whispered.

Tailmon sighed. "Come on, we don't have time for this."

Motioning with her paw, she and Nyaasu crept along the cave towards the entrance. So far no one seemed to be around, but just because they could not be seen did not mean they weren't. Tiptoeing out into the moonlit grounds outside, they had hardly gone more than two feet when a voice broke the solitude of night.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't Tailmon? It was wise of you not to bring the humans with."

Tailmon stiffened only for a second before she swiveled towards the infamous voice she knew only to be that of Picodevimon. There he perched on the roof of a hut just before them. He grinned widely and toothily in a sickening manner and let out a sinister snicker. Surrounding the entire area the chumlimon stood at the ready with spears, teeth and claws.

"Nya!" Nyaasu cried.

"What are you doing here with chumlimon, Picodevimon?" Tailmon growled.

"Better question!" Picodevimon snapped. "Where's the humans?"

Tailmon shook her head. "You're mistaken. There are no humans here. This is just a fool of a creature who will say anything to save his skin."

"Hey!" Nyaasu growled.

"Then what's he to you?" Picodevimon demanded.

"Should we kill them, boss?" the chumlimon asked their leader before Tailmon could reply.

The leader turned to Picodevimon, and the advisor advised with a prompt and solemn nod of his head.

"Get them!" boomed the tall, husky chumlimon.

Nyaasu let out a scream as the attacker charged, but Tailmon held her ground. She waited until the chumlimon were just in front of them, and then with a leap and a bound she landed in front of Picodevimon and gave him a severe neko-punch before he even knew what had happened.

The chumlimon, just about to run Nyaasu down, paused to see what had happened as Picodevimon fell off the room of the hovel in a pitiful heap, but they were not confused for long.

In a flash, Tailmon snatched up Nyaasu from his frozen terror, and together they ran into the dark of the wood. Ducking behind a bush, the chumlimon just passed them by. Tailmon continued to watch however, until the attackers were completely out of sight.

"Phew …"

Tailmon turned around to the emotionally exhausted Nyaasu.

"Now are you going to stay with me or not?" she asked.

Nyaasu nodded readily, and then paused, biting his lip. "They won't come looking for us, will they, nya?"

"If Picodevimon's their organizer, probably," Tailmon replied. "He'll get every virus in the area worked up and data too if he can."

"What's his problem, anyway?" Nyaasu wanted to know. "I thought you said humans were respected here. It's like he wanted them to kick his butt." He looked a moment and shivered. "Or going to serve them for lunch …"

Tailmon rolled her eyes and turned away further into the woods. With another motion of her paw she indicated that Nyaasu follow.

"Come on, let's get out of here," she said. "It's just a good thing your friends aren't here, or we'd really be in trouble."

"Why, nya?" chirped Nyaasu, leaping to her side.

"Just take my word for it. If those two humans were here, there would be more trouble than you even know exists. Team Rocket or not."

Nyaasu shrugged. "Then I guess it's a good thing they aren't here," he muttered dryly, obviously unsatisfied with the answer. There was a short silence then as they crept through the woods, Nyaasu just behind her tail until quite abruptly he stopped.

"What?" asked Tailmon. "What is it?"

Then suddenly Nyaasu asked, "Can we eat soon, Tailmon, I'm starving, nya!"

#

"I'm starving," complained Musashi.

Both Musashi and Kojiro had been walking a long time with no sign of Nyaasu or the escaped pokémon that wanted to kill him. There was certainly no sign of Team Aqua or Team Magma agents. In fact, no people had been spotted since they arrived. Only the sounds of strange pokémon and strange whispers echoed ominously about them.

Just before Musashi had spoken, Kojiro felt sure he had heard someone speaking just behind him, but when he turned he had seen no one. With a shudder he turned back to Musashi, and caught up alongside her just as she began again.

"I'm so hungry I think I can almost smell frying sakana," she grumbled.

"Yeah …?" Kojiro sighed miserably. He could not say he felt any different. The vibrations in his stomach were beginning to become unbearable, and being reminded of food just made things all the worse. Suddenly his eyes widened, and then he frowned and turned sharply to Musashi. "You know," he said, "I can smell it too."

"You only smelled it since I said it," said Musashi, glancing mildly at her partner before slumping up ahead once more.

"No, really!" said Kojiro, taking a big whiff of the scent just to make sure. "Stop a second."

With an unintelligible grumble, Musashi stopped and turned to her already halted companion.

"What?" she demanded sulkily.

"Just _smell_ it," he told her.

It smelled even stronger now that they had stopped. Freshly caught, frying fish over campfire! It had to be! Someone had to be nearby, and whether friend or foe, Kojiro knew it to be certainly worth the effort to see how much those people had to eat with them. For all they knew Nyaasu could be with them!

He smiled encouragingly to Musashi who also seemed to perk up a bit with the knowledge that the food was real.

"Come on!" she gasped and instantly darted toward the smell.

Kojiro chased after her.

In the quickly blackening surroundings, the bright, flickering of firelight soon shone brightly up ahead. By the strength of the light it had to be the work of more than one fire, and the sound of voices faintly echoed from behind the brush indicated a whole company — mostly of children by the sound of it.

Maybe it was a campground!

This would be taking candy from a baby!

Not that Team Rocket had ever had much luck with the sort of thing …

With eagerly grinning faces did Musashi and Kojiro dive into the bushes before the camp, but as they lifted their heads they're faces instantly fell.

Strange pink pokémon bounded all about the many campfires all talking and laughing amongst each other like the children they had supposed them to be at first. The fish indeed fried in pans and hanging on spits over their fires, but now that Kojiro and Musashi saw who it was that was doing the cooking, their minds were temporarily distracted from their stomachs' complaints.

"What … what are they?" whispered Kojiro just barely above mouthing the words.

"Who cares what they are?" hissed Musashi in return. "They're all … all of them are talking!"

Kojiro turned to Musashi and cringed slightly. Now the better question, he supposed was, "Then where are we?" He paused and looked up thoughtfully as he scratched his head in his confusion.

"Maybe they're circus pokémon," replied Musashi flatly.

"Then where are the people?" asked Kojiro.

"Out for the moment," whispered Musashi, and she smiled. "Now's our chance to get some food."

With a deep frown Kojiro turned back to the strange pokémon in front of them. Hungry though he felt, it did not seem likely with all those creatures running around that they would be able to slip away with anything. More likely it would mean another blast into orbit after a combine explosion from these little, seemingly harmless, creatures, but he knew now not to be the time to argue. He looked at Musashi and tried to appear as worried as he felt as she motioned for him to follow.

"Hi!"

With a wild scream both Musashi and Kojiro jumped in the direction of the little voice.

The little creature leapt back on his limbless body and let out a high-pitched yelp of its own. He quickly recovered as he bounded up to the pair, but Musashi and Kojiro were more focused on many of the other pokémon who at the moment of the scream had been aroused from the fires.

"Who are you?" asked another creature bounding next to the first.

"Uh …"

Neither agent could find words to say at first. They looked at each other blankly, blinked a couple times, and then turned back to the creatures.

"What sort of digimon are you?" asked another.

"I don't think they're digimon," whispered the first with a playfully knowing smile.

"Then what are they?"

"Of course we aren't digimon!" snapped Musashi, finally coming to her senses enough to find her voice, and she pushed away from Kojiro before leaping to her feet. "Are you trying to tell me you've never seen humans before."

Again Kojiro gulped and remained kneeling in the bushes. In fact, he slumped lower among the leaves. This was not a good situation. Not a good idea. He began to pull on Musashi's arm to tell her so, but before he could even lift a finger the little creatures brightened to such a degree that he had to stop and stare.

"Really?" they gasped.

"You're humans!" "Sure they're humans! I knew they were." "No you didn't." "But if they're humans, how'd they get here?" "Do you think bad stuff is happening with the viruses." "I haven't heard anything too bad happening recently." "Have you?" "No." "Maybe it's happening far away unless the Ashen Queen's been getting worse lately." "Do you think there's more humans?" "I don't know. You'll have to ask them." "What if they don't know either?" "Then we don't ask them." "Where are their digimon?" "Maybe they haven't found them yet." "Maybe they just got here." "They look worn out." "They must have had a rough day."

By this time Kojiro had slowly dared to rise to his feet, and he stared at Musashi with a very knitted brow. Musashi did not pay the least bit attention to him as she watched the little creatures talk amongst themselves. She frowned deeply and with sharp scrutiny, listening to the babble, and her frown grew deeper and deeper.

Finally, a creature that looked very different from the others appeared. He must have been there all along, but neither agent had noticed him before. He was a yellow/orange and looked slightly like a phase in between a charmander and charmeleon.

"Hi, humans!" he said cheerfully. "Are you hungry?"

Both Kojiro and Musashi instantly forgot to be cautious and exclaimed that they certainly were in perfect unison as if they had planned the recitation all along.

"Come on then, humans!" cried the creatures. "Sit here, sit here!"

They motioned to several places at once, but eventually Musashi and Kojiro found themselves seated on a log by the fire closest to the bushes from which they had come. They were now too hungry to ask any more questions. Perhaps if they did the creatures might decide not to feed them. They should not test their hospitality when it came to eating. Supper first, then answers.

After all, if Nyaasu could learn to speak, every pokémon could potentially talk, Kojiro supposed, so nothing else needed to be asked at present.

From frying batter, two sticks of sakana were placed in the eager Team Rocket agents' hands, and the second they firmly held their sticks they ate as if they never had before.

"Wow! You humans sure are hungry!" one of the creatures exclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess so," laughed Kojiro as he was handed a second stick as well as a bowl of rice with chopsticks.

"We're koromon, by the way," said another.

"Koromon, great!" exclaimed Musashi as she greedily received her own bowl and second stick.

"And I'm Agumon," said the other creature. "It's been a long time since we've seen humans."

"Yeah, you said so," said Musashi with a chuckle.

"So where are your digimon?" asked a koromon.

"Have you been here long?" asked another.

Agumon shook his head. "Hey, come on. There's plenty of time for questions. These humans should just be left to sleep for now."

"You're inviting us to stay the night?" asked Musashi, raising a skeptical brow.

"Of course!" cried the koromon. "We love you humans."

Kojiro paused in his eating and turned to Musashi as he wiped his face on the back of a gloved hand. Musashi only smiled; though the smile was tainted with uncertainty; he could see it clearing enough through her beaming expression.

"Aww, great!" she said.

With a slow frown, Kojiro returned to his bowl and finished off the rest of the rice. Just as he lifted the last bite to his mouth, he nearly dropped it as one koromon rubbed affectionately on his leg. He stiffened sharply and looked down at the creature hesitantly.

"I hope you enjoy your stay!" exclaimed the creature.

Kojiro did not reply. He only plastered an awkward grin onto his face before shoving the last bite of rice in his mouth and swallowing hard.

"So!" said Musashi as she set down her own empty bowl beside her on the log. "I have a quick question before anything else. What human taught all of you to speak?"

The koromon and Agumon looked at each other, and some of the koromon laughed.

"What?" Kojiro demanded.

"What's so funny?" Musashi asked.

"No human taught us to talk," said Agumon with an amused smile. "We—"

"Lemme guess," said Musashi, clicking the roof of her mouth. "You taught yourselves. Just like Nyaasu."

"Well," said Agumon with a shrug. "All of us can talk."

Musashi exchanged glances with Kojiro.

"You don't say …" she muttered.

Agumon nodded readily. "Uh, huh!"


	7. Culture Shock

CHAPTER SEVEN:

Culture Shock

"Good morning!"

Musashi moaned. The voice echoed strangely in her head as it penetrated the shattered fragments of a bizarre dream best forgotten. Something about Nyaasu running off with this strange white cat and she and Kojiro going through a tunnel in the air and ending up in a strange place where every pokémon could talk like some kind of Miyazaki _Alice in Wonderland_.

Rolling over onto her side and pulling up a nonexistent blanket (although the lack of blankets was not uncommon for Team Rocket's lifestyle, a morning chill still could reawaken the habit especially after it had been so hot and humid just a night before), she tried to allow herself to slip back to sleep. She might have been dreaming again in less than three minutes, for she had hardly woken up, but just as consciousness was about to abandon her to dreamland, a voice chirped annoyingly merrily yet again.

"Good morning!"

A blurry image of a bowl of rice rose before her slowly focusing eyes.

"We got breakfast!"

"Hnguh?" she murmured.

Still Musashi's eyes were a little crossed as she lifted her head off the grass-stuffed pillow she had been resting on, and with jaws part way open in a manner that may have resulted in drool, she turned up at the strange pink creature in front of her.

Eyes focused instantly. She dropped her head like a stone back onto the pillow.

"It wasn't a dream," she grumbled.

"Does this mean you're not hungry?" asked Agumon. He was just beside the first koromon.

Just a fraction of an irritated squint crossed her features before leaping up onto her knees, and Musashi snatched the bowl away.

"Of course, I'm hungry!" she exclaimed.

The koromon and Agumon stared a moment in surprise at the violent motion but soon smiled good-naturedly.

"Good!" said Agumon.

She glanced over at Kojiro who happened to be quite nearby and already eating happily from his bowl. With a roll of her eyes she lifted her chopsticks and began to eat as well and soon quite as happily as her partner in crime too.

"This is awful nice of you to feed us like this," said Kojiro, beaming up from his half eaten meal.

Musashi could not help but agree with a deep nod, but he mouth was too full to answer properly.

"Oh, it's no problem at all!" cried another koromon.

Agumon nodded. "Yes, we want you to eat! We want you to be nice and filled up."

Both Kojiro and Musashi stopped eating instantly.

One could not help but notice the creatures' sharp white teeth coming out the side of the mouths, and they were very large mouths. Their eyes were perhaps just a little too eager for comfort as many of the creatures had been watching each time the chopsticks shoveled another bite into the humans' mouths. The agents spat the half chewed rice out of their mouths.

"What?" cried the koromon. "What's wrong?" "What happened?" "Isn't it good?"

Musashi bolted upright. "There's no way, you're gunna fatten us up to eat us!"

"Yeah! We won't let you!" agreed Kojiro, leaping beside her, but he paused thoughtfully before adding with a finger tapping his chin, "Not that it would be very easy to fatten someone up with rice …" He raised a brow in Musashi's direction.

Musashi ignored him, and leered ever more relentlessly at the koromon.

"Eat you!?" gasped the koromon.

"No, no, no!" the cried.

"We would never do that!" "Never!" "You're humans! And even if you weren't—" "We don't eat other sentient beings!" "Yeah, never, never, ever!" "We're not viruses!" "Not viruses!" "Never would we be viruses!" "We're vaccine!" "We make things better!" "We don't destroy!"

"And you're the humans," Agumon reiterated.

"Oh, really?" growled Musashi. She had a mind to have Arbok fling the little pink blobs away and charge Agumon with a good poison sting. "This whole 'human' thing is getting pretty annoying, you know?" she snapped, her fingers twitching for her ball.

"And what do you want with us if you don't want to eat us?" Kojiro demanded, leaping suddenly in front and shaking a fist.

The koromon were the ones looking confused now, and looking at one another they asked what the humans meant and what could possibly be wrong. After a moment, they turned to Agumon, and Agumon shook his head.

"You haven't been here very long, have you?" he asked.

"No!" Musashi snapped.

A sudden thought seemed to occur to Agumon then, and with a smile he reached out and motioned for Kojiro and Musashi to be seated. Somehow they complied and Agumon said spoke.

"I know you're probably really confused, but don't worry. I remember when Taichi first came. He was very, very confused, and a lot of the children did scream too. As soon as your digimon show up everything will be alright." He paused and a look of worry crossed his face. "But your digimon are very late. Then you can save the world." His candid smile returned.

"Yeah," said the koromon. "And stop the viruses!"

"Save the world?!" screamed Musashi. She let out an exasperated growl and slapped her forehead. "We just came to get our nyaasu and leave! That's it! We don't have time for this nonsense! Come on, Kojiro!"

Abruptly, she snatched Kojiro from the log. An "Urk!" escaped him as he was roughly dragged to his feet. Then Musashi began a prompt march out of the camp with her partner in tow, but the koromon quickly barred their way in all franticness.

"No wait!" they cried. "Don't go! Please!"

"Yeah, it's dangerous!" agreed Agumon.

With tears building in their eyes, the koromon latched ears onto the agents' legs even as Musashi and Kojiro tried to protest, but they could not shake the creatures off no matter how hard they tried.

"Please!" they begged. "Please! Don't go! Don't go!"

"We're Team Rocket agents!" huffed Musashi, just barely shaking a koromon off of her leg. "We can handle danger!"

"What we can't handle is being smothered to death!" complained Kojiro, prying another koromon from his arm.

Musashi flashed her eyes up to him, but in his desperate attempt to pry more of the creatures off his legs he did not notice, so she slugged him in the back of his head.

"Ouch!" he cried and losing his already unsteady balance, he fell backwards onto the ground.

The koromon gasped and went to see if he was okay. All Musashi cared was that now they had released her legs, and with supreme haughtiness, she crossed her arms firmly and said, "We can handle anything!" she snapped.

"Right …" moaned Kojiro, and he rubbed his skull pitifully before pulling himself with effort from the ground.

"Now!" snapped Musashi, turning to a fairly uneasy Agumon as she flew right into his face. "I want to know what in the world is going on here! Who are you? What do you want _exactly_! Where are we, and who do you think _we_ are!? And you better tell us or you're all going to face Team Rocket, and when we get back home, you'll all be sent strait back to base! Every single one of you!" With that last threat, she threw her finger around in a semi-circle at all the creatures staring wide eyed in return.

"Musashi …" a small voice sounded from behind.

"What!" Musashi snapped, spinning round to face Kojiro.

"I don't think we should make them mad," he whispered, holding his hands out in front of him in defense. He clutched his still pained head as Musashi stepped nearer.

"They won't get mad! They love us!" snapped Musashi, not caring if anyone else heard, and turning once more to Agumon, she said that he had better start explaining.

Hesitantly, Agumon twiddled his claws together, and then very slowly he began, "Well, uh … see, this is the Digital World."

"Uh, huh …" Musashi encouraged (or rather threatened).

"And … we already told you who we are. We're the digimon. I'm Agumon and they're koromon. This is the Koromon Village. I help the koromon here since they're so small, and we've lived here for years and years ever since Taichi left with his _new_ friends, Daisuke and them."

"Who are they …?" grumbled Musashi, sighing heavily.

She heard Kojiro shift his weight impatiently behind her, but he remained silent for now.

"They helped us last time to stop the viruses and stop the Digimon Kaiser and turn him to their side!" exclaimed the koromon.

"'Kaiser'?" Kojiro wondered out loud, probably more to himself than to anyone else. "That's German, isn't it?"

"I don't know, but you two _must_ be part of the next group of humans to come here," said Agumon. "It's been a thousand years since any human has come to the digital world, but whenever they come they stop the viruses from destroying our world with the help of their digimon partners. The only problem is that you haven't found your digimon partners yet."

"We're looking for Nyaasu, does that count?" asked Kojiro.

In a reflexive motion, Musashi smacked behind her, and Kojiro let out another, "Ouch!" It would have been better for him if he had kept his mouth shut.

Agumon cringed slightly as he looked briefly at Kojiro before returning to face the wrath of Musashi, but she was not exactly seething anymore, and with a roll of her eyes she said, "Yes, well, this has all been very fascinating, but let's just say we wanna get back home. Then what?"

"Well, I know that after they saved the world, Taichi and the other children went home on a trolley back to their world," said Agumon.

"A trolley?" asked Kojiro. He now stood far away from Musashi so as not to get injured again.

"Just a trolley?," muttered Musashi, "And they went back home?"

Agumon nodded. "Yeah. This world just works that way, I guess."

Lifting a brow and looking up at the trees, Musashi thought a moment, and then with a slightly dishonest smile, she said, "Alright, and then how far away is this?"

Agumon frowned. "Not too far. Probably a two day journey over water, but—"

"Then that's where we go!" announced Musashi, pointing forward with a determined Team Rocket stance.

"But—" Agumon tried again.

This time Kojiro interrupted him.

"What about Nyaasu?" he demanded, leaping to Musashi's side.

"We'll find our way out, and then go back and look for him!" snapped Musashi. "Besides, for all we know, he might be headed in the same direction. He'll probably hear about the trolley too. Then we'll get back to our lives!"

And she marched away.

"Show me where this waterway is!" she ordered.

"Uh … okay," said Agumon hesitantly, "but I have to tell you that—"

"You can me later, just show me how to get there! Then I'll think about listening to inane pokémon drivel."

"But we're digimon," said a koromon.

"Whatever!"

"Who are you?" asked another koromon.

Musashi stopped abruptly and laughed. "Who are we? Silly koromon. Who are we?"

"Yes, that's what I asked," said the same koromon.

Another koromon laughed. "Yeah, you don't what us to just call you 'humans' do you?"

"We're not just any humans," laughed Musashi.

"Yeah," agreed Kojiro.

Musashi glanced at Kojiro, and Kojiro glanced back. Both had the same thought in mind.

Yes. Yes, they did. They said the motto.

"If anyone asks us this or that …"

"The answer we'll give is society's sympathy …"

"For the sake of preventing world destruction …"

"For the sake of protecting world peace …"

"To penetrate the evils of love and truth …"

"The lovely and charming villains …"

"Musashi!"

"Kojiro!"

"Team Rocket travels to any star in the galaxy and..."

"A white hole...a white tomorrow is waiting for us!"

_This time, no interruptions too_, Musashi thought with deep satisfaction. Except no one reiterated the motto, but at the moment Musashi did not care. She did notice, however, that Kojiro looked a little put out that Nyaasu had not finished them off with his little, "Nyante nya."

"Ooooooooooooo," said the koromon, quite impressed; though they had absolutely no idea what either Musashi or Kojiro had said.

"That's who we are!" boasted Kojiro, holding out his chest with ardent pride.

"So what's your names again?" asked a koromon.

The pleasure on Kojiro's face deflated, but he still looked with pride that had not turned rather disdainful if not indignant.

"Come on, let's go to the waterway," snapped Musashi. "Team Rocket orders."

"But—" Agumon tried yet again.

"_Come on_!" Musashi barked.

Agumon glanced to the koromon with a look of defeat. "Well, okay …"

#

Shaking his head sadly, Agumon lifted his eyes out seaward. He had almost forgotten that when the children first came to the Digital World they were not always the best company in their distress, but he did not remember it being this bad. Still Musashi would get better. Agumon had no doubt about that. How long that would be, however, was an entirely different matter altogether. After all, even her friend could say or do nothing to get her to listen to himself.

So there they were on a raft on the sea, headed to where the trolley had once been, and no matter how hard he tried to talk to Musashi, the young woman would not listen. No matter what he did or how he tried, she just would not listen, so with one last heavy sigh, he supposed, that although they would lose a few days, he was just going to have to show her after all. Still he could not believe that in two days time across the open channel of sea on a little raft he had been unable to communicate in any fashion the fact that she would be disappointed when she saw the site of the trolley.

When they finally reached the area, Agumon closed his eyes and waited just on the other side of the brush as Musashi too leapt out to inspect the grounds. Even knowing the outcome, Agumon jumped back in surprise as Musashi lunged into his face a moment later.

"Ack!" he cried.

"Well?" she growled.

"What?" asked Agumon.

"Where is it?"

Agumon gulped. "I tried to tell you, Musashi. It's gone," he squeaked. "It's been gone for ages."

"What?" cried Kojiro.

"Entrances and exits can only be used once in the Digital World," Agumon explained, turning to the milder if the two, even though he too was passionately distraught and looked about to do some violence himself right about now. "You guys wouldn't listen!"

Kojiro bit his lip, and turned with wildly, panicked eyes to his partner. "But that mean …" He barely breathed the words.

Musashi on the other hand …

"Wha— uh—ih …" Sweat drop cued, pupils shrank, knees dropped to the ground, and throwing her head back, she let out an enormous, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


	8. The Raft

CHAPTER EIGHT:

The Raft

Kojiro leaned over the side of the raft, chin in both palms and elbows on crossed legs, and moaned.

Besides the fact that he felt quite hungry, and that he had spent a whole day and half on board the raft again after the one day break on the island known as File; besides the fact that they had not found Nyaasu, and the fact that Musashi happened to be more irritable than usual, and certainly besides the fact they still had absolutely no idea how to get out of this place! yes, besides all that, Kojiro could not help but think. Sometimes he did not know why he bothered thinking, since hardly anyone listened to him, and when they did it was usually not without socking him in the head for it. Yet, he supposed that even if he had not wanted to think he would be thinking anyway. He always thought. Strange thoughts, perhaps, but what else does a child trapped in the driest form of education and child rearing in the world all day long have to do, especially with no peers unless an unassuming dog counted — a dog who would listen to any and all thoughts no matter how strange or unusual …

Anyway, what Kojiro could not help but think about were the words of Agumon about who the digimon thought he and Musashi were. Some sort of heroes, yes, and for the sole reason that they happened to be human. Another thing that bothered him was the fact that Agumon said that he had known humans and yet at the same time claimed that humans had not stepped foot in this world for thousands of years. The last thing that really bothered him about the whole situation was that if this world was purely digital as its name suggested, how was it that everything felt more intensely real than in his own world? Even bumps on the head felt keener here and he had certainly received more than his fair share since his arrival here.

"You okay?"

Kojiro jumped, nearly knocking himself off the raft with his start. The koromon which had approached him jumped too and both let out a yelp of surprise. Instead of the koromon leaping back towards the water, he landed on the side of Musashi's leg, and thus any conversation between the digimon and Kojiro would never come to be.

Her eyes flashed.

"Watch it!" she snapped, shaking her fist dangerously.

The koromon lowered his ears and cringed.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't—"

"Yeah, whatever!" Musashi growled, flipping her hair and slumping into her knees with an unintelligible grumble. Something about the stupidity of koromon.

Looking briefly to the koromon and then back to Musashi, Kojiro finally cleared his throat and said, "Musashi, don't take it out on them. It's not their fault it wasn't the way out."

A horrid glare narrowed in upon Kojiro as Musashi slowly lifted her head. As she did she shoved the koromon aside, much to the indignation of Agumon and the other koromon, but she did not pay the least bit attention as she moved to the other side of the raft and grabbed Kojiro by the scruff of his white top shirt. The zipper of which was practically being shoved up the side of his nose as he let out a small wail in protest.

"I've had just about enough of you," Musashi hissed. "You're a Team Rocket agent. Have you forgotten? What do you think that 'R' on your shirt's for? 'Retard'? Though 'milksop' is a better word for you!" Her voice began to rise. "How come when anything weird happens you just stand around and act like a moron? Am I the only one who thinks that Team Rocket isn't going to be pushed around by some talking pokémon?"

"We're digimon, Musashi-san," a koromon voice cut in.

"Whatever!" cried Musashi.

Kojiro squeezed his eyes shut as Musashi dropped him. He would not say anymore. He just sighed, stared out in front of the raft where he continued to lay as he had been dropped and hoped that the rising land would come quickly.

"First Nyaasu chasing some girl feline and disappears and now you fall apart! Well, not me! I had it with you!" she said. "All of this! I'm getting answers right now!" she turned to Agumon. "How do we get out of here? I want to go home _NOW_!"

Agumon frowned. "We're _trying_ to help, you know? We're on your side."

"Why are you so angry?" said a koromon.

"Yeah, we didn't do anything mean to you," agreed another.

"Beating up on your friend or us isn't going to help anything," Agumon said, and he turned towards land. "Maybe your digimon have showed up now. Then things will work out."

"Oh, how many times do we have to tell you!?" Musashi growled. "We're not going to save any …" she turned down to Kojiro whose wide eyes had suddenly locked onto the water behind her as he let out a gasp. "What?"

Kojiro gulped.

The water had moved. He knew he had just seen the water move.

"Kojiro? What?" Musashi demanded and spun around next to him.

With a shake of his head, Kojiro turned away. "Nothing," he said. "I just thought I saw something that's all."

The koromon instantly began looking over the side curiously, some piled on top of one another kitten-like as they did.

"It's your imagination," said Musashi with all practicality and an authoritative pointer thrust up in the air.

About to agree, Kojiro lifted himself onto his knees, but just as he opened his mouth to speak, a deep, chest pounding rumble sounded somewhere deep beneath the raft.

Everyone froze.

Suddenly the wooden craft, which had before felt like a crowded barge, now felt very small and insecure. The bay upon which they crossed might as well have been in the middle of the ocean. The single sail in the middle of the raft looked as frail as a brittle pretzel. All anger and complaint had quickly been forgotten, and the fact that Agumon looked afraid meant that the fears could not be in vain.

Clenching his teeth, Kojiro turned to Musashi. Musashi looked back, but only briefly before carefully peering over the side of the raft. She twiddled her fingers slightly at her side and then slowly backed up to the middle of the raft.

"What was that?" she squeaked.

"I don't know," Agumon admitted. "But I think … we should all be kind of quiet for a while."

Musashi nodded carefully. "Yeah, I think you're right."

For a while everyone sat in silence and waited. No one dared breathe as the company aboard the little craft watched the now still waters. Perhaps the waters were too still, Kojiro thought, but as time wore on everyone began to relax. The koromon let out sighs of relief, and Musashi and Kojiro joined them, but just as everything was being settled once again a great mass broke free of the water.

The motion pushed the raft to one side, and it just barely kept upright on the water as the great mass rose up and up like a building growing out of the sea. As Musashi and Kojiro watched this thing grow to the height that its body would allow while still balancing well in the water, they grabbed each other and squealed in fright. Then the eyes of this beast, for a beast it was, and not a structure at all, lowered as the water dripped off and revealed its form, and those eyes continued to lower until they rested firmly and narrowly with a homing signal precision directly on the two cowering agents.

"_Megaseadramon_!" screamed the koromon.

A look of grave regret covered Agumon's face as he stared helplessly up at the beast. He looked at the humans and then back at the angry giant. He would do his best if only to buy time.

"Baby flame!" he roared.

It did no good. Even before the flame left his mouth, the giant lifted his tail and slammed it into the middle of raft.

"_The humans_," the beast boomed, "_will die_."

"YAIIIIII!" screamed Musashi and Kojiro.

CRASH!

The raft fell apart like toothpicks.

Water swarmed around Kojiro in a flood of painful bubbles. The wind was knocked out of him, and he almost felt himself pass out seconds after he regained himself enough to swim, but the rumbling beneath his feet caused him to open his eyes. He might have fainted right then and there at the sight of those humungous eyes glaring right into him. For a flash he had a faint memory of an angry magikarp (a lifetime ago, it seemed now) which after having evolved had looked with quite a similar expression down at him, but the blind hatred of this creature was far deeper that anything Kojiro had ever seen directed at him. It made Kojiro want to shrink away into nothing.

Finally, the eyes left him, and the instant Kojiro was free from the glare, he reached for the surface. Gasping frantically for breath he spun around, but before he could comprehend his surrounding, a wave of water swept beneath him again, and the huge tail of the beast showed forth like a massive wall coming straight at him. He hardly had time to widen his eyes before the impact was made.

#

Tailmon threw a paw in front of Nyaasu's face to halt him, and stopping abruptly the pokémon let out a little yelp.

"Shhh! Listen!" Tailmon hissed.

For a long time, Nyaasu could only watch. The stillness and quiet of the air did not feel quite right. Not a bird flew overhead, but what had caused this hush in the forest, Nyaasu had not the slightest idea, nor had he heard what Tailmon had heard. Perhaps he had been too involved in his own thoughts. He had been ruminating over Pikachu of all things! Stupid thing!

At least Pikachu had not gotten involved. Oh, how lovely that would have been. Of course, if he had not been around Nyaasu it wouldn't have been so bad to know that the brat and his friends were wandering around just as helpless as …

Whatever.

This was not the first time Tailmon had made Nyaasu stop and stay hushed. They would never go far before she would hear something again, but rarely would anything come out to get them. Well, there was that giant bug creature that had chased them a ways until Tailmon and he ducked into a tiny cave opening that the creature could not follow them through, but with all these halts Nyaasu began to wonder if this feline had a paranoia problem. Understandable given where she lived, but still.

Finally Tailmon turned to Nyaasu and with grave nod, off she went again.

"Woah! Wait, nya!" Nyaasu called, hurrying to catch up. "I'm getting really sick of you bolting off like thunder shock."

Tailmon chose not to respond, and Nyaasu could only shake his head.

"Where are we going again, nya?" he asked.

"We just have to keep moving until we find someplace safe to keep you a while," said Tailmon. "Then we can figure out what to do with you. I was thinking of taking you to Primary Village."

"Where's that?" Nyaasu asked.

"Across the ocean," Tailmon admitted.

With a slight groan, Nyaasu could not help but slap his forehead.

Tailmon looked thoughtful then, mysterious, and sad somehow. Nyaasu knew that he no longer existed. He understood that look. The look of dreams, the look of memories. Living in a group of emotional rejects one got used to such looks from time to time, and this was not the first time he had seen it on Tailmon either.

"You … thinking of Hikari?" asked Nyaasu.

At first, the look he received blazed with the invasion of space. That too was a look Nyaasu was quite familiar with, but after a moment, Tailmon relented irritation and released a sigh instead.

"It's been a long time since I've seen her," she said, "and I don't know why, but you being here keeps making me remember her — the first days with her." She turned away with a slight huff.

"Nya," was all Nyaasu could think of to say for the moment; then he added, "What happened to her?"

Tailmon shook her head. "Nothing happened to her. It's just her world goes much slower than ours and a few days in her world could be a human's lifetime in ours — more."

"Then how do you ever get to see her?" Nyaasu said and stopped "You've really been here since the last time humans came, haven't you, nya!? How old are you, nya?"

Turning around, Tailmon stopped too. "I don't know. Why? How long do pokémon live?

Nyaasu shrugged. "That uh, varies, you know, nya?"

"Then nyaasu?"

"Not as long as humans," Nyaasu grumbled. "You're like an elf cat or something, nya. Like in the Lord of the Rings." With a dark grimace, he started up again, and Tailmon was the one to start up second; though, she did take the lead not long after. A few moments later, Nyaasu then said, "Hikari's special then, nya."

"Yes," was the blunt reply.

"How many humans have you met?"

"Enough …" Tailmon replied vaguely.

"Then how do you knya-ow your opinion on humans isn't based off a kinder few, nya?"

A low growl formed in the back of Tailmon's throat. Her claws flexing at her side did not make Nyaasu any more comfortable either, and he felt obliged to take a few steps off to the side. She did nothing violent, though. She hardly looked at him as she continued walking onward.

"I don't know what humans did to you, but you're wrong about them," she said.

"Abandoned me, nya, tortured me, nya, mocked me, nya, lied to me, nya, and that's not even including what Musashi and Kojiro do all the time to me," muttered Nyaasu.

Tailmon rolled her eyes. "So you just treat the world the way you were treated," she said, but her tone was not condescending in the least, but strangely quite candid in nature. "How does that make you any better?"

She stopped so abruptly that it took a moment for Nyaasu to comprehend that she had disappeared, and upon turning around, he saw Tailmon standing with eyes closed and head held high. As he approached, Tailmon's eyes slowly opened and the moment those blue orbs locked onto his eyes he was stopped dead in his tracks.

"I know it will probably mean nothing to you," she said, "but the way you close yourself up to harden yourself against all you despise, the way you become only claws, teeth and viper tongued against the whole world, it does not make the pain go away."

#

Perhaps the reason why Megaseadramon did not bother Musashi was because he had assumed her already dead as she lay unconscious on the log where the koromon had managed to push her. The digimon watched in silence as the giant disappeared under the waves. Although they worried that he would return, eventually they saw that he was gone for good, and the instant he left Musashi awoke.

"Eh … wha … what?" she murmured, and lifting her head she turned to Agumon, wading on another log not far away. "Where … where did it go?" she said with a loud groan.

"He left," said Agumon. "He's gone."

"Are you sure?" asked Musashi, attempting to reposition herself on her log, but she felt too sore to move much and relented to her position, causing water to splash all around her.

"Yeah," said Agumon.

Glancing behind her, she was returned with the wide stares of the koromon, huddled together on their own broken logs, but something she felt was not right, regardless of them.

"We better get to shore," said Agumon.

"Yeah, okay," said the koromon.

Agumon looked carefully at Musashi. "Come on," he said encouragingly. "Are you okay enough to swim?"

But as Musashi continued to look around, she suddenly gasped, and the ferocity of her start nearly had her leaping clear off her log. "WAIT! Where's Kojiro?!"

#

"We need all the help we can get," said Piyomon after she had explained the situation as simply as she could. Big sea monster. Smashed raft. One of the humans missing. One got the picture, Nyaasu supposed. "I just started helping a few hours ago with Aeromon."

Nyaasu turned slowly to Tailmon, worry littering his face. This did not sound good. It just sounded horrible in fact; it was just taking his mind a long while to take a hold of what had just been related to him. Surely, this digimon could not be talking about his humans. Please don't tell him that! By Tailmon's frown, he knew that she believed it just as much, if not more, as he did. That was when he noticed how fearful he had become during the tale — that his heart pounded wildly and his fur was standing almost straight up at this terrible idea that those humans were the ones he knew only too well.

He growled to himself. _Oh, those great idiots! _He thought miserably.

A blue bird of paradise-like digimon perched at Piyomon's side along a wide branch. His tail was very long and his eyes shone golden. Although slightly slimmer in build, he was the same height as Piyomon.

"I was going to fly in one direction and Piyomon in the other," he said, "but we spotted you, Tailmon, and came here first."

"How long has he been missing?" Tailmon demanded, stepping up to the tree.

"Since this afternoon," said Piyomon. "We saw Agumon coming to shore with a human, and we had to see what was going on!"

"And it'll be night," added Aeromon. "We have to find him soon."

"Yeah," said Tailmon slowly, and she turned to Nyaasu with an undecipherable glance before returning to Aeromon. "By the seaside, right?"

"Right!" said Aeromon.

"Oh, I hope we find him soon," said Piyomon. "I hardly even know there were any humans here until I knew one was missing!" She sighed and fidgeting a little on her branch. "The other human is very, very worried too."

Nyaasu could not help a huff at that.

"Is she alone?" asked Tailmon.

"No, the koromon and Agumon are with her," Piyomon said.

"And is anyone …" Tailmon lowered her head, and Nyaasu knew why she did even before she finished, "checking the water?"

"Gomamon," said Piyomon.

Suddenly, Aeromon cocked his head up to Nyaasu, for he seemed to have noticed him only now for the first time. He studied Nyaasu for a moment, and Nyaasu could only scowl in return. Usually, he would have had some brash comment of some kind, but right now he felt too grumpy to say anything.

"Who's this?" he asked.

"Nyaasu uh, mon," grumbled Nyaasu.

"Hmm," said Piyomon. "I think they did say something about you. You're their digimon, right?"

Tailmon sighed. "He's not—Oh, we don't have time for this! We'll help, don't worry. You just go fly now. Nyaasu and I will make our way to the bay." She paused. "But just one more thing."

"Yes?" asked Aeromon hesitantly.

"Where are the koromon and the human?" She asked, and she smiled a little, almost sheepishly to Nyaasu's surprise.

"If you follow the road you're on, you won't miss them," Aeromon assured, and with that he took wing, and Piyomon soon followed the example.

"Nya …" Nyaasu sighed, and slumped forward miserably.

"Come on, Nyaasu," said Tailmon, tapping Nyaasu on the shoulder. "We'll find the koromon, and then we'll find your other human friend."

"N-yeah …" Nyaasu said. His nod of agreement proved sluggish, but he quickly snapped out of it and leapt after Tailmon down the road. "Okay, nya."

After having heard the story about the giant sea monster, Nyaasu still doubted Kojiro had truly drowned, but he knew that whether alive or not, the situation was going from bad to worse, and that was the understatement of the century. He was not looking forward to seeing Musashi. She would be furiously hurt and take it all out on him, but as Nyaasu followed at Tailmon's tail he supposed, though he hated to admit, that in a way if anyone was at fault for the situation it probably was him. That made Nyaasu all the angrier about this whole thing.

_But those idiots didn't have to follow me in here!_ he thought.

"Come on, Nyaasu, hurry," said Tailmon, gaining speed even as she spoke.

With a sulky groan, Nyaasu moved up alongside Tailmon, and together they ran up the road to the beach.


	9. Kojiro

JMJ

CHAPTER NINE:

Kojiro

_The name Kojiro conjures up two main things, nya. A tough, young swordsman of long-ago Japan: Sasaki Kojiro who died in combat against his rival, the proud Miyamoto Musashi. Then, especially if you're a member of Team Rocket, there was Kojiro Niwa, a wussy, foppishly raised teenaged agent who was anything but a warrior, nya._

_We all took Kojiro for granted. Always had. He was easy to boss around, easy to rouse, easy to scare, and easy to take advantage of in any way you wished. Sure, he had his stubborn moments, and often those were somewhere between eye rolling and eye squinting to witness, but he was hardly threatening. Oh, he could talk scary, and little, naïve pokémon trainers probably found him downright scary, but when you get to know him, there could not be a more awkward, insecure weirdo in the whole world, but maybe that's still scary. It got one to wonder why he really became a Team Rocket agent in the first place. Born an aristocrat, ran away to escape an arranged marriage (among other things), and met up with a girl just as messed up as he was (but with more choleric punch against his melancholic confusion). And of course, me eventually … nya. Quite different from the happy, loyal canine he was used to, Hee, hee, nya!_

_He was always in the background, and when he wasn't, no one could do anything but stare and cringe. Neither Musashi or I cared what he had to say. Sure, deep down we liked him in a way, I suppose, but we treated him as nothing but an accessory to the Team Rocket group we had going, most of the time. We stole his bottle caps, we hit him when we did not feel it worth fighting each other, made fun of his upper-crusted past, hid his hair gel, and stole his share of the spoils when he wasn't looking, especially food. No one could be more pathetic than Kojiro. The scorned of the already scorned trio of Team Rocket, a group scorned by the rest of society, nya. Triple scorned! Whatever his white tomorrow was it sure wasn't coming for some time, unless white meant pointless._

_It got one to thinking that a Musashi would be the death of a different Kojiro yet again in another situation, another era, another world without a duel to the death in the formal sense of the word, but a duel of the mouth, a duel of spirit._

_Now he was gone, not that I knew right away, of course, spending a few days scrounging for food and hanging out with Tailmon while she tried to hide me from any unfriendly digimon; though, it was beginning to unnerve her, no question, that the rumors of the humans were becoming a little too clear for comfort. That was the day, when we were told that the sea side was being searched from top to bottom for a missing human who had been attacked on a raft in the bay, and that his friend was looking desperately for him, nya._

#

The first thing that Kojiro felt conscious of was hearing the sound of the surf. It proved almost comforting. The slow, almost musical rhythm of the waves upon the shore soothed his befuddled mind, and he welcomed it as much as if he were resting in a hammock at a summer cabin while on a long-needed vacation.

About this point, however, Kojiro unfortunately felt the surf. His body slowly became aware of the cold crash of water against his legs and back at even intervals. Stiff and heavy, he might as well been a beached whailmer as he slowly lifted his head from the sand, the tiny grains falling from his face and hair and into his mouth and nose.

"Pla-a-ah! Ack! Uck! Ug!" he tried to spit it out.

He lifted a sore arm from his side to brush some of the sand away. A cough escaped him and then twice more. He felt there must be sea water still swimming inside him, and it made him ill on the verge of nausea.

His whole body felt wracked. Of course, wherever he had been since he had been unconscious, he had been hit by a whole wall of sea serpent tail across the ocean. Sure, it was not much different from what he went through on a daily basis, but the size, the utter magnitude of that thing had made the whole thing quite different. The massive bulk of the creature had thrown himself directly at Kojiro and Kojiro alone. There had been no blasting off either, just plunging through the water like a submarine missile before everything had gone black.

Yes, all that quickly returned to Kojiro as he carefully pried himself from the ground. First on his knees, he crawled and stumbled out of the surf and up onto the steep beach, quickly turning from sand to rock. As he neared the top of the slope, he reached out for a tree, and he scrambled to drag himself upright on his noodle limp legs as mini avalanches of rubble fell down into the beach.

He sighed, and slumped to the ground again but still clinging to the tree. Looking out over the sea, he did not know what he had expected but he felt very disappointed at how vacant everything looked. Not a creature in sight much less a Musashi. Not even a Nyaasu.

His eyes widened fearfully for a second, but as he felt at his belt he let out a sigh of relief.

Phew, his pokémon were at least still with him, but a lot of good they would do at the moment.

Lowering his eyes a moment, and closing those heavy, sore lids, he lifted himself up once more, and looked along the beach.

Nothing.

The other way?

No one.

"Musashi?" he croaked. Then after a deathly still pause, he cupped his hands around his mouth and tried again. "MUSASHI!"

The name echoed against the nearby cliffs along the beach and disappeared into the slowly fogging bay, but no answer came to him.

Angrily, he kicked a stone, launching it out into the water. He almost lost his balance with that kick, and just barely caught onto his tree again. After a short pause, he then decided to take it upon himself to find Musashi … or Nyaasu, he supposed. Whoever came first, he did not care. The koromon did not know the way out anyway, so if one thought about it, if did not matter whether he was here or there or anywhere in this miserable world. He would still be just as lost. Just as miserable, but if he found at least one of his friends, er, teammates. Could he call them friends?

The pessimistic thoughts prevailed as he made his way along the top of the cliff, but he did not get far before he heard a rumble from below.

He stopped instantly, his heart practically leaping out of his chest with his start. Frozen save for his eyes, he scanned the beach and the bay below, and feared at any moment that the sea serpent creature would reemerge and finish him off.

Nothing happened, but as he eased up, he felt that he should back away from the beach a little. There was no use risking being seen by a giant beast that wanted to kill you just because you were a human. It wasn't as if Team Rocket had ever tried to capture him, after all. There had been no humans here for ages, so what got his scales in such a knot?

With a grunt, Kojiro marched further into the shelter of the wood, but in his state he did not watch where he was going. It was only a matter of minutes before he slipped on a fallen mossy branch. His flailing arms were as in vain as his cry for help as he stumbled further, unable to catch himself. Falling, and tumbling, he found himself eventually at the bottom of a ditch.

Rubbing his head with a moan, he looked up and saw that more than a ditch, this proved to be nothing other than a long trench, and it would be some time before he would find a spot to climb out again.

"Great, now what?" he grumbled as he pulled himself again to his feet.

Trailing his fingers along the dirt wall of the trench, he trudged along, head low, pace slow and only lifting his head from time to time to see if there was another way up. His head only sunk lower as the time wore on and the sun began to sink and trickle in red and orange through the trees above. The ever loudening growling of his stomach did not help matters any either.

Finally, his eyes narrowed in on a series of roots jutted out to the trench, and a relieved smile appeared on his face as he flung himself toward the wall and began his climb. Although a mere eight feet to the top, his advancement proved slow going as he realized how very sore his joints really were, and they complained mournfully about having to pull his weight up so. He slipped several times, and even fell right back to the bottom once, but when he reached the top, it was all perfectly worth it, for there right in front of his weary face, just as the sun was disappearing behind him, he saw that he had stumbled into an orchard!

Though not peaches or apples or any fruit that Kojiro knew of, he grabbed as many as he could and began to eat. The taste was delicious though foreign, and the texture of it practically melted in his mouth and bathed his dry throat with a soothing lather almost as smooth as cream. Only after his first whole fruit did he think that perhaps the fruit might not be good to eat, but he decided he would die of starvation anyway if he did not eat, so he would take his chances. When was the last time he ate anyway? It had to at least have been since early that morning.

_Besides, how can something that tastes so wonderful be poisonous_? he wondered.

After eating about as much as he could handle and a little over (he had a slight stomach ache from overeating but he liked it in a way), he decided that as the sun disappeared behind him he might as well spend the night here, or at least just take a little rest. Scrambling under a mossy ledge nearby, he made himself comfortable enough to sleep, but he did not need to be that comfortable. He had hardly lowered his head in his arms before he fell asleep after the kind of day he had had.

#

The next morning he knew that he probably would not run into such a feast as could be found in the orchard for some time. After a fine breakfast of the fruit, he had to bring some with him before he set off, but how to accomplish this, Kojiro did not know at first. No basket, no bag, no box — he had nothing with which to carry the fruit. Improvising would be needed.

Only two would fit in his pockets, one per side. Then Kojiro removed his outer uniform shirt and began to place a few more fruits into this. By tying the sleeves together and slinging everything over his shoulder, he now had for himself a nice little sack.

Thus, pleased with his ingenuity and with everything set, he took off in a random direction, and left the orchard behind him in quite better spirits than yesterday.

Surely he would find Musashi soon. The koromon could not be too far. Maybe he would get lucky and find Nyaasu along the way too!

He rounded thick trees, climbed over fallen logs, scrambled over dusty slopes, and ducked under ledges. Whenever he heard any creature coming his way, Kojiro would hide anywhere possible, and for a long time nothing noticed him, or if they had nothing paid him any mind. Sometimes when the forest grew denser than usual, he felt the chill of foreign eyes upon him. He would jump like a rabbit during these times. His eyes would dart from branch to ground to rock. Sometimes he saw something. Sometimes he did not, but nothing he saw ever pursued him; nothing gave him more than a sniff. Still, he would shudder and cower and slink away as unnoticeable as he could.

The more he walked, the thicker the air, the more trapped and lost he felt, and confident began to peel away slowly but steadily with the slow but steady motion of his feet.

At about midday, he stopped at the edge of a wide field. He surveyed the thick reeds, and welcomed the light breeze as it brushed over his face; though, it had little luck blowing through his grimy, sweaty hair. The sun felt hot but not bad, and he somehow felt safer with its presence above than he did in the dark of the wood. He sat himself under a tree and ate half of what he had brought with him. The juice still felt as fresh as ever down his now quite parched throat, and strength returned, adding just a little confidence back as well.

He scratched at his head. The breeze only reminded him how awful his hair felt upon his head, and he longed wistfully for someplace to rinse off. A river. A pump. Anything, but there was no water about. This proved to be a bit of a problem in a manner much more important than dirty hair too, for if he did not find water soon, the fruit would eventually not quench him.

Yet with a grunt of determination, he set off again. Across the field, he marched with the last half of his fruit. He walked for some time, more in search of water now than for his teammates, but they never strayed too far from his mind.

All afternoon he walked in this manner, and it was not until the sky began its evening colors that he found a stream.

Diving for the water, Kojiro first took a long drink by scooping his hands several times into the cool water and up to his mouth. The he splashed his face and even dunked the top of his head in an attempt to remove at least some of the salt water, sand, and sweat that had lingered there. It helped a bit, and he felt much better as he squeezed his hair out and leaned back upon his knees.

With a heavy but satisfied sigh, he closed his eyes and smiled. Straitening, he allowed the faintest of breezes to blow on him. Now with a wet head, the breeze felt much stronger and cooler and far more refreshing.

After a moment or two, he resituated himself cross-legged and started for one of his fruits. At first he had a mind to eat what remained, but he decided that he should try to ration it a little. He should at least have it last till midday tomorrow now that he did not need to use it for liquid and food.

Kojiro finished one fruit and very reluctantly he tied up the rest in the shirt. Then with another sigh, a little less satisfied than the first, he leaned back on the grass, hands behind his head, and one leg cross over a knee. This part in the forest was rather peaceful. Perhaps it was the presence of the delicately trickling stream or the almost perfect balance between the shelter of trees and the splotches of an orange and pink sky in between, but he felt so comfortable, almost at home, that he nearly forgot he was not back in the Hoenn region in his own world. He might even be simply waiting for Musashi and Nyaasu to return with some sort of supplies while he waited with the balloon. Maybe he had just dozed off and had an unpleasant dream from eating too much very thick cheesecake that they had somehow gotten a hold of.

He almost allowed himself to believe this were so, even if just to ease his worries temporarily. It was working too until he heard a voice from behind him.

"What is this?"

Like a bolt of lightning had struck him, Kojiro was up on his feet, stiffened, and completely changed in mood.

"A human …" whispered another voice.

"Poor little human …" said yet another.

Backing up slowly, Kojiro let out a squeal when he bumped into something suddenly. He spun around only to see the trunk of a tree, but he suddenly thought it quite a sinister-looking tree.

"Lost, miserable thing," said yet another voice.

Kojiro spun back towards the voices. This time when he looked more than a dozen pairs of eyes looked back at him. They were similar in build to the koromon — round, limbless, with long ears and large eyes. After that the similarity ended. These furry creatures had an almost rabbit like appearance about them except that they were anything but cute and cuddly. Of course, it was not that anything Kojiro had seen so far had been all too attractive in any way except maybe Nyaasu's white, sapphire-eyed "girlfriend." All the digimon, like the world in which they lived, had such a coarser appearance than pokémon in his world.

The manner in which these creatures stared at him — some on the ground, some in trees, and some still more on the rocks surrounding the place — was a tad unnerving but then so had the stares of the koromon been when he and Musashi thought they were going to eat them. Although this thought did not encourage him much, he decided to dare a step closer and with a hesitant smile, he greeted them.

"Hello," he said. "How are you?"

The creatures exchanged unreadable glances with one another and then returned to Kojiro.

"Pretty good, actually," said one with a very wide, eerie grin.

Letting out a nervous chuckle, Kojiro went on, "I'm Kojiro. Who are you?"

"Pagumon …" was the ominous reply.

"Oh, uh, hi," Kojiro said with a faint wave. "Um …" he twiddled his fingers for a moment before he spoke again, "Hey! You uh … wouldn't happen to have seen a group of koromon, would you? And … and another human?"

The pagumon continued to stare as though with little comprehension.

With a gulp, Kojiro found himself backing a pace involuntarily, but he went still further, "She's about as tall as me with red hair, and she's a woman … uh, or have you seen Nyaasu, maybe? Huh? He's a cat, um, creature. No? Yes? Uh …"

"We seen a human," said a pagumon as he hopped towards Kojiro from his spot between two trees. Again Kojiro could not help but step backwards. This time he almost walked right back into the stream.

"You have?" asked Kojiro, perhaps a little too eagerly with his fists clenched in anticipation.

"We're looking at him."

"No, I mean like the one I described!" Kojiro snapped.

Some of the creatures laughed.

"Sure we have," said another pagumon from a tree branch. "We were joking, stupid! Can't you take a joke? We seen her headed for the desert not far from here. Eastward, right guys?"

"Yeah." "Sure we have." "Right." "Yes!"

"Really!?" gasped Kojiro.

But his joy was short-lived. It was then that he noticed that his shirt with the fruit in it was gone. Just barely did he then see it being dragged off into the bushes.

"Hey! No! Wait!" he cried. He lunged for it desperately, but it was too late. When he shoved his way into the bushes, his hands grabbed nothing but gravel and sticks. He leapt up again, facing all the creatures as dangerously as he could.

"Give that back!" he yelled as he spun around. "That's mine!"

Cruel laughter only echoed in return.

"I need that!" he gulped, suddenly quite afraid. "It's the only food I got! _Why'd_ you take that from me?!"

A streak of white fluttered just out of the corner of his eye. With a high pitched yelp, he spun towards it only to see that the heap of white rested motionless on the ground. He neared it, lifted it up, and although he knew he would not find anything but the bold red "R" of the uniform to mock him, he could not help but let out a cry at finding that all of his fruit had disappeared. Still clutching the shirt in his angry fists, he turned and looked around him.

"Come on!" he shouted. "Give them back!"

"Okay, here you go!"

Every pit from the fruit dropped to the ground from the trees and flew from the bushes, and everyone single one hit Kojiro directly on the head, except the last one which he was able to knock away with his arm.

"Hey! Ouch! Stoppit!"

Now rage built. He felt it in his shoulders first, shaking until it reached his fingers and clouded his eyes and stiffened his knees.

"Oh …!" he growled. "That's it!"

In a blink of an eye, Kojiro snatched at his belt, and seconds later Weezing appeared.

"Sludge them, Weezing!" he shouted.

_Splat, Slook, splick!_

"Hey!" "Ack!" "Yuck!"

The sticky black slime managed to get almost every single one.

"Ha!" Kojiro congratulated himself. "Now, smog attack!"

Weezing obeyed, and the whole area filled with a thick, nearly unbearable cloud of smog. Kojiro had Weezing in his ball the moment the attack ended, and he slipped away laughing to himself while the pagumon coughed and gagged behind him.

#

The forest was entirely black by the time, Kojiro settled in to sleep with his Team Rocket shirt returned over the black one for warmth (as much warmth as it truly offered). He found a dip in the earth behind a bush that hopefully would hide him enough until morning. Even still, he feared being discovered. Although it was less than fifteen minutes before he fell asleep, it felt like hours to Kojiro as he stared up uneasily at where the treetops would be if he could have seen them in the blackness. When he did fall asleep, it was a very hard and teeth grinding sleep as he curled up in his pit with a tenseness that could not leave him even in his dreams.

Luckily, he did not remember the dreams. He would have had enough to deal with by the time he awoke, and he began to awaken with a slight touch at his belt …

"Hnuh?"

He bolted upright so fast that his head spun and he almost gave himself a whiplash.

Everything was still very dark, but he could see enough through the gloom to tell that something was handling bright white and red pokéballs a couple feet away.

"Ack! Give those back!" he snapped.

"No!" came the blunt reply, but Kojiro still managed to snatch at least one of them back.

The weight of this one was a little lighter so he had Weezing back in possession. With a heavy grimace, he readied himself to release him, but before he could, the ball was snatched away again.

"Give them back!" he shouted grasping blindly for anything he could. Only weeds and dirt ended up between his fingers. "Give them back! They're mine!"

Mocking laughter returned to him.

"He'll never find his way out of the woods," said a pagumon voice.

"He'll be trapped here forever," said another.

"It is inevitable. He'll only die here all alone and unwanted!"

"… Stupid human."

And they laughed all over again.

Mostly by their glowing eyes, Kojiro made out their forms, and they bounced around him in an impish manner as he stood upright. Stepping forward, he only tripped over the bush and landed face-first in the ground with a cry and a loud moan.

"You're absolutely right! He is a very stupid human."

"I know!"

"Stupid, pathetic thing! Can't even walk straight."

It was only because of his fall, however, that Kojiro discovered a thick branch. His eyes blazed now and he had certainly surpassed the end of his rope by this time. Snatching up the stick he faced the creatures as if he held a Samurai sword, except that when he began to swing it, his control was like that of a lunatic with a stone-aged club.

"Go away!" he snarled. "Go away! Leave me alone!"

He swung with all his might, but in vain.

"Ha, ha!" "Missed!" "Couldn't hit a tree, you oaf!" "Idiot!" "Moron!" "Oop! Gotta do better than that, pathetic human!" "Who do you think you are, an ogremon?" "You're pathetic!" "More than pathetic!" "Miserable wretch!" Here they even began poking him and pulling on his clothes and hair to mock him and see who could touch him the most without getting hit. "Gotchya!" "No, I do!" "Ha, ha, ha!" "I'm over here!" "Over here!" "No over here!" "No, no, human, over — ack!"

Everything stopped, and all the pagumon turned to face their unconscious companion just barely visible on the ground.

Panting heavily, Kojiro only relaxed his arm ever so slightly as he waited to see what would happen now.

"Who hit our fiend?" hissed a pagumon, flashing a dark leer at Kojiro.

"I—I didn't mean to!" cried Kojiro angrily, even though he meant to hit every single one of them. "It's just you were driving me nuts! It serves you right!"

"Serves you right, huh?" demanded one of the pagumon.

"No!" snapped Kojiro. "Serves _you_ right! You little _freaks_!"

"Serves you right," said a pagumon.

"And _you're_ the freak, don't you think?" added another. "You're the one who's out of place, hu—"

_Swack!_

Kojiro whipped his stick as hard as he could right into the creature's face.

"Ha! Take that!" he laughed.

He made to smack at another, but just as he swung, another pagumon leapt up and bit him right in the arm.

Kojiro let out a loud screech as those sharp teeth sunk in and clamped on, and the creature would not let go. In an instant, Kojiro dropped his stick, then he dropped to the ground, tears of excruciated pain and uncontrollable rage fell from his eyes. With his free hand he tried to desperately to pry the creature off, but he still would not let go, and the creatures in the background laughed as if it was all a great joke. They cheered on their fellow pagumon, and leapt up and down with excitement.

For a moment, Kojiro thought that for sure he was going to die, but just as he felt he could take no more, the pagumon decided that he did not feel like hanging on anymore (there seemed no other reason for it). He dropped to the ground, and smiled with smug satisfaction, and Kojiro, in misery and exhaustion, clutched at his bleeding arm.

"Take that! Human!" and the pagumon stuck out his tongue in triumph.

Then everything calmed down. The pagumon seemed more interested in his pokéballs than Kojiro now, and they poked them and nudged them curiously. Kojiro was too in pain and miserable to take much notice. All he could do was clutch his arm, afraid of the pain it would take to remove the glove, but afraid to the infection that would result if he did nothing.

"What does the buttons do?" asked a pagumon.

Leering up at them, Kojiro managed to growl, "Why don't you push it and find out?"

"Good idea!"

And they did.

In a flash of light, a piercing scream filled the air, and a huge, menacing creature appeared ready to attack defenseless pagumon. The pagumon screamed. One nearly fainted, and all soon ran away as fast as they could. Then Victreebel, who did not seem as menacing now, turned to Kojiro and decided that as long as they were both just standing around that master's head should be sucked upon.

"Victreebel! No!" Kojiro screamed.

Victreebel didn't listen, and Kojiro did not have the strength to fight the pokémon away. He let out a heavy moan and cried bitterly before he was finally released.

Shakily, he then crawled for the open ball, clamped it shut, and returned Victreebel. He picked up the other ball now too, and released Weezing before managing to stuff the balls into his pockets.

Weezing, at first, waited for a command, but found instead as he turned, rather befuddled and full of concern, to his master on the ground.

Still more shakily, Kojiro ripped the glove off his injured arm, and inspected the damage. He almost fainted clean away, but he would not let himself pass out before he could somehow clean it off.

"Come on, cover me in case they come back," Kojiro squeaked.

The stream still lingered nearby, and he followed its trickling to the edge where he dunked his arm under. He pulled it right back out again. Nausea filled him, and he could not bear to dunk it again. Instead, he took his other glove (the first he had abandoned where he had stripped it off, and besides it had been covered in blood) and turning it inside-out he tied it tightly around his wound just before he finally passed out.


	10. Directions

JMJ

CHAPTER TEN:

Directions

With a roll of his eyes, Nyaasu turned reluctantly toward Musashi as she continued to rant, which she had been doing for quite some time. He leaned idly against a tree trunk and could not help the heavy yawn as he closed his eyes wearily.

"We haven't found him yet!" she screamed. "_Why_ haven't we found him yet!?" Her face was directly in Agumon's face.

Agumon involuntarily leapt back, and for the moment was at a loss for words. They had searched and searched and searched the coast from top to bottom, but there seemed to be no sign of Kojiro. Everyone was desperate with or without Musashi's tantrums.

With a growl she spun around and started marching away. She moved in no particular direction. It did not really matter where she went anyway, but she did not get far before Tailmon stepped resolutely in her path, arms outstretched to block her way.

"Enough!" she ordered. "We're doing the best we can. We want to find him just as much as you do, but you behaving like this isn't going to find Kojiro."

Musashi let out another growl as she tried to grasp for a comeback that did not occur to her.

"There has to be something we overlooked," Tailmon went on. "You have to calm down. You're putting everyone more on edge than they would be. We want the human found. We don't find him and someone else will, and then whether you were supposed to help us or not, you'll definitely cause the downfall of the Digital World! You have no control over yourselves whatsoever! Either of you!"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Musashi snapped. "Whether we were the picture of goodness or not, Kojiro would still be lost!"

Then with a loud moan, Musashi turned sharply away once again with arms crossed stubbornly.

The koromon lowered their heads sadly, and Agumon turned to Tailmon exchanging some thought that Nyaasu could not even begin to guess what as he watched them curiously.

"What if he found his way back to our world, nya?" said Nyaasu suddenly. He held up a paw with his offered suggestion.

"I doubt it," muttered Tailmon.

"Well," said Nyaasu twiddling his fingers. He hated to think it, but it was possible. It made him sick to think it, but they had not been successful in finding Kojiro yet, and unless he fell into a black hole (or even a white one) there was no denying the possibility that … "You knya-ow, it's possible that he's still, well, nya, in the ocean somewhere …"

It a flash of black, white, and red, Musashi swung at Nyaasu and had him by the scruff before he could so much as yelp.

"Don't you dare say things like that!" she snarled, shaking a screaming, flailing Nyaasu angrily, but her voice quickly turned to a sob. "It's not fair! Why did we have to come here!? Now Kojiro's gone! It's your _fault_!"

"Hey, put him down!" cried Agumon.

"Yeah," said a koromon. "You heard Tailmon, we gotta calm down. Besides you're hurting him!"

"We won't give up till we find Kojiro-san," said another koromon.

The other koromon agreed.

"Musashi …" growled Tailmon softly.

Musashi turned and glared.

"Put him down," Tailmon finished.

_Plop._

With an unintelligible grumble Musashi left Nyaasu in a heap on the ground.

"Now!" said Tailmon. "Has anyone heard from Gomamon or Aeromon and Piyomon recently?"

"No, Tailmon-san," said the koromon. "None of us."

"Well, then we should wait until they come back," Tailmon replied. "Otherwise, the best thing to do is move further inland."

Nyaasu frowned, rubbing the back of the scruff of his neck tenderly. He then asked, "Why, nya?"

"Because it's possible someone _has_ found him first."

The ominous tone with which Tailmon spoke gave Nyaasu the shivers, but he did not argue anymore nor did he ask. Even if he had planned on asking, however, Musashi quickly asked anyway.

"Why? Who's going to find him if we don't?" demanded Musashi. "Another beast like that thing that tried to eat us?"

"That," admitted Tailmon. She paused hesitantly and then added, "Or worse."

"What's worse?" growled Musashi, stepping forward forcefully.

Tailmon did not respond.

It was not long afterwards that Gomamon, Piyomon, and Aeromon had caused the final decision to be made, and deeper inland proved to be that fateful move.

#

"Have you seen a human?" asked a koromon of another digimon they passed by.

The digimon shook her head.

"Are you sure!?" gasped Musashi pushing her way into the scene. She pressed her hands together pleadingly, but her face was near exploding with impatience.

"Like her only less hostile?" asked Nyaasu pointing to his companion.

Closing her eyes solemnly, Musashi shoved Nyaasu out of the way.

"You're not helping," she murmured.

It did not matter. Either way, the digimon insisted she had seen no other human in her entire life aside from Musashi, and the manner in which she stared boggle-eyed at Musashi no doubt proved her sincerity.

The party moved on until they approached another digimon. Similar results. They asked another and another and another. No one had seen Kojiro, and Musashi was on the verge of exploding, and Nyaasu too was beginning to lose courage. They asked and asked and asked until finally one digimon said, "Can you help me open my beans?"

"WHAT?!" screamed Musashi. "_WHA-A-A-AT_?!" She ran towards the creature and roughly swiped the bean can from his hand before the creature, a digimon known as Neamon, even knew what had happened.

Neamon's cheerful face, dropped instantly, and suddenly his lazy eyes popped wide open. They stayed open for a moment or two as well quite unblinkingly, for Musashi was a fright to behold directly in front of him.

"We've been searching all through the woods for days, and you want to open a can of beans!?"

"Musashi, calm down, you're freaking me out, nya," muttered Nyaasu; though, he remembered to keep his distance.

Luckily, Musashi did not notice.

Neamon smiled as his eyes returned to their usual lazy hardly open slits.

"You can have some beans too," he offered with deep benignity.

"Ug …" said Musashi, too disgusted by the creature's response to even stay angry.

Nyaasu leapt up instead. "I'll have some," he said.

However, before Nyaasu could lift a paw, Tailmon entered the scene.

"Look," she said. "We've been looking for a human and—"

"Hey, I've seen a human!" Neamon exclaimed.

All irritation washed out of Musashi's face. "You have?" she asked, eyes nearly popping out of _her_ head now. She nearly fell over in disbelief, and a wide grin spread out across her eager, flushed cheeks.

The koromon jumped up and down excitedly and began cheering amongst themselves, dancing and even singing at this pleasant turn of events.

"Where?" cried Agumon.

"Was it close by?" asked the koromon. "Was it not long ago?" "Was he okay?" "Did you see where he was going?" "Did he say anything?" "Tell us, Neamon, tell us!"

"Well, it wasn't that long ago …" said Neamon, scratching his chin thoughtfully. He looked up with deep scrutiny as if he might see some directions written on a map in the sky through the treetop. After a moment he then returned to earth and said, "He was headed for the Grey Desert."

"The Grey Desert?" "But why?" asked the koromon.

"He said he was looking for his friend," said Neamon quite seriously, and nodded sagely to himself. "He said that she might be out there, and he had to find her. He had a really strange digimon with him too, but he didn't say anything. I tried to offer to help, but he didn't want any help. I was actually going to try to find one of you guys cuz I heard the rumors about a missing human …" He twiddled his fingers, and then looked up at Musashi with a slow expression of earnestness. "Could I have my beans back? They're pinto, you know."

"Pre-spiced or plain?" asked Nyaasu.

"Nyaasu!" growled Musashi.

"What did the other digimon look like?" Tailmon quickly cut over the subject. "Was it Picodevimon?"

Neamon shook his head so that his ears flopped carelessly about him. "Nope! I would have followed anyway if he was a virus!" he cried excitedly; though, he paused again to look longingly at his bean can still clutched tightly in Musashi's hand. "Uh … could I please have those beans now?"

Musashi glowered. This whole place was insane! Giant human eating creatures yelling about death to humans on one side, coddling gum balls on the other, and now this!? Oh, she did not think she could stand much more of this! Not one more moment in fact! Especially since they still had not found KOJIRO! She felt like just collapsing on the ground and screaming her lungs off. It was not fair! She hated this whole place! And she knew beyond all doubt that neither pokémon nor digimon should have the ability to speak. Nyaasu was bad enough. Just imagine if Wabafet had been able to speak!

At this last thought, all Musashi could do was throw the bean can as hard as she could against a tall rock off the side of the path. The can clacked and skipped off it, and even before it hit the ground, Neamon whooshed through the air, a living missile, and caught it like one catching a football just before it reached the opposing goal.

"My beans!" he cried, but brightened instantly as he discovered that upon colliding with the rock, the can had broken just enough to allow his beans to come out. He looked up at Musashi with a wide grin. "Say, thanks, human!" he said, holding up the bean can graciously.

Musashi turned away.

Wait! Where had the creature said Kojiro had meant to go?

"Did you say Kojiro was looking for me in a desert?"

"Yeah, that's what he said," returned a voice muffled by the sound of chewing beans. "Like I said, I offered to go with him but—"

"Why would I be in the middle of the DESERT!?"

#

Kojiro wiped his brow.

It would not be long before he reached the top of the hill. The bleak, grey sands of the desert may have looked anything but hot before he had entered the dunes, but now he almost felt as if he kicked up ash instead of sand as he trudged along. It was a very fine, soft, hot sand, which seemed to be getting everywhere even as sealed up as his uniform was. Every step he took up the hill, he seemed to be dragging with him another ounce of sand inside his boots. It would not be long before his achy feet were encased in sand. And not to mention everywhere else the sand accumulated. In his hair, in his sleeves, in his pants. What worried him was the sand that kept getting to his bite. He stopped constantly to untie the glove and brush off the sand with painful effort.

He did not know how long he had been walking out here, but he had started in the morning setting off just for this hill. He was not sure if he could believe what the pagumon said about seeing another human out here, but the moment he came across the desert landscape, he knew he had to try. All he planned to do was to go up the hill at least and have a look around, but he had not realized just how large and how far away the hill happened to be.

Now as he trudged along, Kojiro missed Weezing's company, but after he had been walking maybe a mile out into the desert with his pokémon by his side, he felt that Weezing would be better off in his ball. Weezing preferred dark, cool, moist places. To be honest, Kojiro would have preferred that too right about now. In his loneliness, he had to tell himself, that even if Victreebel was not so overly disturbingly affectionate, or whatever one would call her, she would not be the least likely to stand this lifeless heat. Even the occasional breeze felt dead, and was as hot and as dry as burnt toast.

"Almost there," he murmured to himself. "Almost there." It had become almost a chant after he had reached the foot of the hill. "Almost there."

He took the last couple steps, and finally collapsed onto the ground with a groan.

The moment he stopped moving, he realized just how thirsty he felt, and he knew he should have taken a longer drink at the stream before he had venture out here. He closed his eyes slowly, and opened them again, and slowly he rose to his feet to have a look around.

The blaze of the noon sun made the grey sands look like water, and Kojiro tried his best to ignore it, forcing himself to think of it, if anything, as sea water, and thus not drinkable. Though, the edge of the forest he had left, ages ago it seemed, called him back like the call of home people sang songs and wrote so much about (not that he knew much about the call of home).

_No_, he ordered himself. _Look for any sign of Musashi_.

He turned the other way, to scan the side deeper into the desert. Was that spec of white and red Musashi? Or was it just his imagination?

#

Musashi swiveling back around, and she slapped her head with a loud moan. "That idiot!" she snapped. "Why is he looking for me in a desert?"

"Maybe he got bad directions," said Agumon.

"But think about it!" Musashi said. "Why would I be in the desert?"

"Musashi, we're talking about Kojiro, nya," Nyaasu pointed out suddenly. "He's lost in the middle of ny-owhere and he's desperate. He'd take advice from a flea right about ny-ow, nya! Who kny-ows what he's thinking!?"

"But who was the strange digimon who was with him?" Tailmon pressed again, beginning to lose patience herself.

Neamon swallowed a large gulp of beans and put a musing finger to his temple. "Um … I don't know. I never seen him before, but he had two heads. One small one and one little one. It was kind of creepy, but it wasn't a virus, I don't think. Probably a data."

"That was Weezing!" snapped Musashi, and she stomped her food against the ground with a growl. "Oh, we're wasting time!"

"She right," said Agumon. "We should get to the Grey Desert and fast."

"Right," agreed Tailmon. "We'll spread out a bit, and get some other digimon to help us. And Neamon?"

Neamon straightened to the stiffness of a pole and gave a sharp salute.

"Yes, Tailmon-san!" he said.

She smiled. "Do you have any more of those beans?" she asked.

Neamon nodded readily. "Oh, I got tons of beans. Pinto, black, baked, refried, and lots and lots of nato! Lots of nato! I just lost my can opener, that's all."

"Beans!" snapped Musashi.

"What, don't you like beans?" asked Neamon shocked.

"What do we need beans for?" Musashi demanded.

"To eat while we're out there," said Tailmon. "We'll have to get lots of water too to carry with us."

"We still have to eat, Musashi, nya," grumbled Nyaasu.

Musashi growled as her answer and considered bopping Nyaasu on the head of maybe just Neamon. In the end she merely sighed and followed the eager Neamon leading the way to his bean stash. It surprised her too to see that not far away they came across a small building, the first real building she had seen in the digital world.

A bit like a shed in appearance, it was coated with sheet metal, and the door was of redwood. It had been built keenly under the shade of a willow tree, and the gentle brook that snaked this area, flowed just behind it.

With a great bound, Neamon began to sing army style, "I. I. I. I. Like. Like. Beans. If you don't like them, I will scream!" Snatching a key from under the bean-shaped welcome mat, he turned it in the lock and swung open the door. With a broad sweep of his hand and letting out another round of his song, he allowed everyone a look inside.

"Beans!" cried Musashi.

"Yes, lotsa beans!" agreed Neamon cheerily.

Cans and cans and cans of beans on shelves and in boxes, and neatly put into picnic baskets. Some beans were dried and put on strings and some were in jars mashed into a paste. It was bean city!

Nyaasu licked his lips and let out a hungry meow.

"That sure _is_ a lot of beans," said Agumon.

Granted, Neamon had already told them this, Agumon's word certainly expressed the general sentiment of all present.

* * *

NOTE: I promised my brother I'd put his Neamon in the story, but it's not supposed to be the one from the show. He's based off of his appearance in Rumble Arena Two where he's really hyper, except my brother added the complete obsession with beans and some other personality things. XD Some of the dialogue he says is from my brother too as well as some dialogue in future chapters.


	11. Surprise Inspection

JMJ

CHAPTER ELEVEN:

Surprise Inspection

Water, water, water. WATER! No water anywhere. Not a drop, not a molecule, except maybe the rivers of sweat dripping from Kojiro's face. When he had climbed down the hill, he had tried to come back the way he had come.

There was still no sign of Musashi. There was still no sign of a living being period.

Aimlessly he walked, however. With the hill the only landmark and the dunes quite high, he found it difficult to return to the forest. No matter which direction he chose, the hill would always be behind him, and the more he walked, the more he realized that he could not find his way back.

With tongue hanging out doglike and a sagging posture that was slowly turning him hunchbacked, every step Kojiro took was a miracle in itself. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and moaned to himself, although no one was around to hear him, and he went on in this manner for some time.

Kojiro even started seeing things, he was so parched and weary and hot. First just water, but slowly other things, like battleships and dump trucks, and a giant ancient computer. Every time he passed something unusual, he forced himself to look away, even plug his ears. He tried desperately just to keep himself from screaming. He saw a lamp post at one point with a broken bulb. He saw a modern, sleek, black, ceiling light fixture sticking up on its side in the sand. He saw a hologram projector playing shakily the tail end of a colorful Hatsune Miku music video, and another time, he saw a sizzling TV screen showing Wario and Waluigi in a _Mario Golf_ cut scene. He even saw a theater sized screen far in the distance playing _Casablanca_. The sound of "Day's Gone By" echoed over the dunes mournfully in the dreary wind like the memory of a forgotten dream. That was not nearly as bad as "A Very Merry Unbirthday" crackled from a giant 40's radio down the way, and flashes of Disney's animated _Alice in Wonderland_ flashed sporadically round the dial.

He was going delusional. Had to be. He laughed a little crazily just to make it all the worse.

_Tell us a story, Nyaasu_! Kojiro thought giddily. _Come on, tell us!_

"Oh, fine, nya! Once upon a time," he imagined Nyaasu saying while wearing a rumpled Victorian suit as he was seated beside Kojiro with a stiff collar and a broad hat, and Wabafet was on the other with hare ears taped to his head, "there were three dubbed characters, Jessie, James, and Meowth, and they fell at the bottom of a hole."

"Why?" the brat boy of all people might ask.

"_Well, they dug it, nya" said Nyaasu._

"_Then why'd they fall in it?" the boy demanded._

"_They forgot where it was," said Nyaasu simply with a revolving paw. "Anyway, they also dropped some of their lunch down there, nya. So they decided to sit down and eat."_

"_What?"_

"_Wasabi."_

"_You can't just eat plain wasabi!" protested the boy. "This is stupid!"_

"_Hey!" cried Kojiro. "Don't be rude!"_

_Wabafet heartily agreed._

"_But it would have blown off their faces!" the boy pointed out._

"_It did! All the way!" exclaimed Nyaasu. "But when they finally calmed down after shoving three pounds of dirt in their mouths, they decided that as long as they were in the hole they would go dig their way under the Pokémon Center."_

"_Hah! They're thieves!" cried the brat. "I might have known. Just like you!"_

"_Nya!" cried Nyaasu knowingly, and he tapped the side of his head, "But this was no ordinary Pokémon Center. This was a script Pokémon Center."_

"_WHAT!?"_

"_Brilliant!" shouted Kojiro._

_Wabafet hastily nodded. "Wabba! Wabba!"_

"_See, the dubbed characters were curious to know what they said in Japanese," said Nyaasu, "so they were trying to steal the scripts. Unfortunately all the words were categorized by letter, and they could only find words starting with the Japanese character for Nya! Like nyante nya, and nya-ni, ny-eko, nya-to, and nya-ana kanji, and Ny-intendo, nya, nya, nya … ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ."_

_Everyone save the brat boy fell fast asleep, and the boy with a deep frown grumbled, "Uh, that was … pointless."_

_Still they slept._

"_So when are you gunna tell me what you did with my PIKACHU … !"_

#

Kojiro blinked back to what he assumed was reality.

That was when he saw it. Yes, _it_, the "it" of "its" that could not help but arrest the attention of those sore, red eyes as they rested upon its beautiful shape.

"An ice cream stand!" he gasped.

Another illusion? It had to be. Of course, it could not be real.

He rubbed his eyes, hoping when he opened them all he would see would be the whirl of grey sand, but he did not. The ice cream stand stood more real than ever, and it made him shake and even let out miserable squeaks in frustration. At last, he could stand it no more.

"I don't care if it's an illusion!" Kojiro cried. "I want it!"

Hearing his voice again seemed to break a spell of some kind, and Kojiro bolted towards the ice cream stand positive that it would disappear as soon as he reached it. He would run right through the stand, surely. Oh, and then he could tell himself how much he had told himself so.

Closer, closer, closer the ice cream stand drew. It became clearer instead of dreamier, but Kojiro would not fall for it. He kept running and running, and then.

CRASH!

Lights flashed before his eyes as he fell backwards on the ground, but the pain in his face was completely he ignored. He knew right then that he was either completely nuthouse worthy or the ice cream stand was 100% real.

He leapt to his feet.

"One large ice cream soda to go, please!" Kojiro exclaimed, holding up a finger and grinning broadly at the strange digimon behind the counter. What moisture remained in his mouth watered with his anticipation, and he clasped his hand together eagerly.

"What flavor?" grumbled the digimon, looking quite lethargic.

"_Any flavor_!" Kojiro gasped. "Just make it quick!"

He still did not believe it when his hands wrapped around the cool, Styrofoam cup. He did not even believe it when he took his spoon and swirled the creamy contents inside once around. Not bothering with the straw, Kojiro just began to drink the ice cream soda as fast as he could. The ice cream headache seconds afterward felt pretty real even if the ice cream itself felt and tasted more like a sublime dream otherwise.

When he finished the ice cream, he smiled dreamily himself, and straightened himself while looking out at nothing in particular through a pair of lazy lids. Then after a moment, he leapt up to the ice cream stand again.

"You wouldn't happen to have anything else besides ice cream, would you?" Kojiro asked pleasantly.

The lethargic creature only blinked slowly in return.

"I mean it's okay if there isn't," Kojiro went on, "but I wouldn't mind something a bit more substantial too, if you know what I mean." He chuckled dizzily to himself.

"We have ice cream, Turkish delight, popping chocolates, baby's candy, 'Go' dango, and idiot's specialty."

"What was that last one?" asked Kojiro, suddenly having a very bad feeling about the situation, but even as he took a step back it was too late.

A foot suddenly met with thin air, and before he could steady himself he found himself suddenly falling. Screaming all the way, Kojiro slid down a chute. Black, cold, and very, very deep, he fell and fell, and now felt for certain he must be crazy. After all, this was the rabbit hole if anything else was.

"No!" he shouted, and then tried with all his might to stop himself from falling further.

Putting out his hand and feet, and still screeching through clenched teeth, he pushed hard against the walls of the shaft, but just before he came to a standstill he suddenly met with thin air again.

"ACK!"

In a swoop and a final shriek he landed on his back on something relatively soft; though his back still felt a bit of the pain from the collision regardless. He moaned.

Before he could even begin to wonder where he was, he felt the sensation of being pushed in something. Pulling himself up a bit (though not without a squeak as he clutched his sore arm) he found himself on a gurney-like table, and being pushed by some furry, strange monkey-like creatures that seemed not even to notice the passenger as they pushed along the dimly lit corridor.

These were koemon, not that Kojiro knew or care what they were, and apparently a group of koemon that had never seen a human being; thus considered him just a weird-looking digimon, fortunately for him at the moment.

"Wait, wait!" he cried. "What's going on?"

"Strap him down," said one creature to the other.

Kojiro tried to protest, but at the press of a button on the side of the gurney, the koemon suddenly released metal straps which roughly bound him, first at his legs, then around the middle, then at his wrists and finally on his forehead.

"No, stop!" Kojiro screamed as he tried to pull himself loose, but it would do no good. "Stop! There's some mistake! Stop!"

Then they stopped suddenly, and feeling slightly more confident, Kojiro growled, "Alright, that's better! Now get me out of this! Or you'll be sorry!"

"Check his pockets," said one koemon to the others.

"What?!" screamed Kojiro. "No! Don't check my pockets!"

They ignored him, and took what they could which was not much.

"Findings?"

"Lint, sand, a random stamp with a funny blue wind chime thingy on it, and some stray bottle caps."

"Crap," muttered the first. "Chuck 'em."

"No! Hey, those are mine!" growled Kojiro. "You can't just—"

"What about these things at his belt?"

"Take those too."

"No, not _those_!" Kojiro cried frantically, and again he squirmed and pushed, trying desperately to get away.

Still none of them listened as they removed the pokéballs and examined them carefully.

"Those might be worth something," said the first. "We'll sell them later. Keep them."

"But what are they?" asked one of the others.

"How should I know," grumbled the first. "What is the status on the idiot?"

The creatures suddenly moved their attention to the specimen himself, and Kojiro squeezed his eyes shut and cringed.

"Go away, leave me alone!" he sobbed.

With strength surprising for their size, they first examined the wound on his arm, "AHHH! No, stop! That hurts!" Kojiro wailed. Then one lifted both eye lids and checked his eyes. "Ah!" With a stethoscope, they listened on the top of his head "What are you doing?!", one tapped a fingernail as to test for hardness "Stop that!", another one pushed down rather roughly on his chest "_Uhhhg_!", two of them plucked out a couple strands of hair from his head and inspected them "Ouch!", and yet another licked the bottom of his boot and stuck out her tongue with extreme distaste "Let me go! Stupid things!"

"Idiot is in fairly decent condition," reported the digimon to their apparent superior. "He just needs water." "And probably food." "And maybe some medical attention on his arm in case it gets infected." "It's already looking a little unsavory."

Now Kojiro was more confused than ever. Why should they care what condition he was in? What did they want? With a severed gulp and a shiver, he waited.

Just as they suggested, they moved then solely to his arm. He let out a yelp as they removed his makeshift bandage. They set to work cleaning the bite, and bringing out a suspicious looking liquid out from under the gurney, they proceeded to lather it generously on the wound. It stung like disinfectant and smelled like it too. Okay, so they really were helping in that regard, but by the rest of the treatment he was receiving, he doubted this would end well.

When they finished, they wrapped the bite with a real bandage and then all the koemon stepped back.

"Okay, he's fit for the queen's final look over."

"_Queen_?" Kojiro squeaked.

"Yeah, so get off that thing, and make yourself respectable!" growled the first koemon.

Kojiro frowned and rolled his eyes. "Well …" he muttered slowly. "I'd love to, but in case you forgot _I'm strapped down to this thing_!" The last part he screamed at the top of his lungs, in case the reader was wondering.

The bonds instantly withdrew, and the second he was free, Kojiro leapt from the gurney with all fury, his hands ready to grab at the creatures ears and tie every one of them together in a big knot. He lunged towards them, teeth set and eyes red with emotion, but he had barely enough time to actually stop himself from running into those creatures as they suddenly possessed seemingly out of nowhere, very sharp, long spears.

"Wa!" he cried, and nearly fell over as he stumbled backwards away from those pointy objects. "You know, I wouldn't have been in very good condition if you actually hit me with those things!" he pointed out.

"Just get moving," said the first.

"Yeah, shut up and get moving. The queen wants more workers for her underground castle."

"What? I'm not—"

"You do or you die!" was the snarly retort.

Kojiro digressed, and with a mournful sigh, he allowed himself to be prodded down the corridor. Yet, before they turned a corner, Kojiro did have time to notice, one of the digimon pushing the gurney back under the shaft for some other helpless victim.

What a miserable place this Digital World was!

He was led through a door eventually, and on the other side were various digimon writing and discussing on a platform-like rock formation. They seemed not to notice Kojiro or his captors, but perhaps the loud echoes from down below might have drowned out their entrance, especially considering most were shouts of "Work faster" and of machinery and of occasional growls or screams. Everything echoed strangely against the tall cave ceiling and walls all around them.

On the far side of the platform, was a throne and upon the throne sat a digimon, quite feminine in appearance, but still very creature-like even in her empress-like clothing, especially with her very pointed feline ears poking out of her headdress and the long tufts of fur on the sides of her face like the tufts of a lynx or bobcat. Yes, and a long tail curled around the throne which looked more like the tail of a grey leopard. She glared down at the party and their captive as they approached, and then looking up at the captive himself she let out a sniff.

"What is this?" she demanded, her brown-grey eyes lowering to a lazy haze.

"A new worker, Sandlynxmon-sama," the koemon replied. "He's tall and healthy."

"He's kinda scrawny," muttered the Sandlynxmon. She paused, glaring thoughtfully as she studied Kojiro. "I never seen anything like you before. What sort of digimon are you?"

"I …" Kojiro began and bit his tongue. He did not know what he could say to escape this. Whether calling himself a digimon or human, nothing seemed to be able to free him. If he was just some old digimon, he would be sent to work, but if he was a human what would happen? The koromon loved him. The megaseadramon wanted to rip him to shreds. What would these creatures do? He did not want to know!

"Well?" demanded the queen.

"I …" he squeaked.

"Answer or die!" growled his captors, waving their spears dangerously.

Kojiro let out a cry.

"Kojiro …" he whispered.

The queen raised a brow and leaned closer. "What?"

"Kojiro!" he cried. "I'm Kojiro."

"What kind of name is that?" demanded the captors. "It's not like any name I ever heard."

"Floramon!" snapped the queen suddenly to one queer plant creature busily writing near at hand with amidst a slew of various other digimon.

"Yes, Sandlynxmon-sama!" he cried, leaping from his chair.

"Get over here!"

The floramon obeyed.

"What is that?" asked Sandlynxmon, thrusting a pole in Kojiro's direction.

The floramon turned sharply to the prisoner and leered for a moment. Slowly his mouth dropped and a look of panic crossed his face.

"Sandlynxmon-sama!" he gasped, and in a flurry of green leapt up to his queen and whispered something in her ear.

Sandlynxmon's eyes widened.

"Really?" she murmured. "Are you positive?"

"Yes, Sandlynxmon-sama," replied the floramon with a deep bow. "100% positive."

"What!" cried a koemon. "What is it?"

"What's going on, Sandlynxmon-sama?" asked another.

Abruptly the queen stood up. "This human will not be harmed," she said.

Everyone gasped.

"Human!?" cried the koemon in utter shock.

Kojiro's eyes widened, and he could hardly believe his ears. "Really?"

* * *

NOTE-_The Alice and Wonderland bit is based off something my sister and one of my brothers made up together and laughed about. The initial idea of Team Rocket in Alice in Wonderland was my sister's idea, but I made up the story Nyaasu tells which is parodying the Doormouse's story. Oh, and Musashi's not there because she's the queen XD_


	12. For Sale

JMJ

CHAPTER TWELVE:

FOR SALE

_The first night after we ran into Musashi, I felt restless. I don't know if it was because Kojiro was lost, because both he and Musashi were in the Digital World with me, or if it just happened to be one of those nights. I think either way that this was the night it sank in that we were not going home any time soon._

_Tailmon noticed me after a while, sitting at the edge of the wood and staring off over the beach and into the sea. I pretended I did not know she was there. I did not like her, you know, and I still blamed her for what was happening, nya. If she had not shown up we never would have gotten into this mess. Or at least it was her fault, because she escaped from us. We could have brought her to the boss we could have regained respectability as Team Rocket agents like we were before that stupid kid and his stupid pikachu appeared in our lives and ruined it._

_Maybe we could have forgotten Team Rocket for the moment and used the prize ourselves. Sell her off somewhere in the black market and earn millions! But no. Here we were in a strange and unforgiving world. Here we were the hunted. I felt the irony, sure, but that just made it all the worse, and I did not feel in the mood for Tailmon rubbing it into my face._

_Then she asked quietly if I was okay._

"_Uh, no," I growled dryly, and turned roughly in her direction just to show how angry I felt._

_She rolled her eyes, more at herself for asking than to me, I think. I found her seated straight and upright beside me then. I may not have protested, but I made sure to display my annoyance before I turned away out into the bay again._

"_We'll find him," she told me. "And we'll get you out of this."_

"_Yeah, whatever, nya."_

_She was trying to comfort me. Well, like I really wanted to be comforted right about then. I was perfectly content being sulky, nya. I downright wanted to be sulky. She apparently respected that, and left me alone. _

_I glowered into my lap and did not turn until I knew she was very gone. Then I sneaked a look behind me where she settled in for sleep with the others, but there her eyes met mine. Those burning blue flames glowed in her head like nothing I had ever seen before or ever will again. Call me weak willed but they were the kind of eyes that made you want to tell everything, especially when it so burned inside you to be told anyway. I could not help it, honest. I don't think she could either. She was not conscious of her eyes, I don't think, but with a heavy sigh, I motioned with a paw for her to return, and I told her. I told her who I was. I don't know why other than what I've already mentioned. Maybe those reasons are enough. I don't know._

"_I don't remember my mother, is that strange?" I demanded._

"_I don't know," admitted Tailmon. "Digimon don't have mothers."_

"_Well, I don't," I grumped. "I bet people who do most of the time then remember love. Musashi's mother loved her, such as she was abandoning her for Team Rocket stuff before she got killed. She talks about her like she was the best thing ever. Kojiro's mother, I suppose loved him. Besides all that school and crap he had to do, he was spoiled. She and his dad gave him pretty much whatever he wanted. A dog, toys, food whatever. Until they decided to play match maker with some other wealthy family for him when he was barely old enough to hold a pair of chopsticks." I started talking faster and faster. I don't even think I saw Tailmon anymore as I went on. "But not me. I never had anyone love me. I was abandoned as a koneko. I wandered the streets, got tied up in a tree. Then ran away to some lame, old city where I thought I would find what I wanted, but I ended up in a worse place than I was in before. Then I ran away again and found myself with Team Rocket. The closest thing I ever got to parental attention was probably Mondo*.Sorry excuse for an agent maybe, but he thought I was the greatest thing since caviar, nya. He taught me useful things too, like how to play a guitar, how to do math, how to mess around with machinery, how to cook. He was a good cook. But I don't know what happened to him after they fired him. I didn't even think about it. I just thought of gaining access to the top with the boss. I was his favorite! The boss thought I was special for like about two weeks then dropped me — handed me over to some field agents who yelled at me, but then I yelled back at them. Scratched them too. Then they pounded me into the ground. I bopped them back! And, and, and …"_

_Tailmon rested a paw on my shoulder. "Slow down Nyaasu," she said calmly. "Remember everyone's still trying to sleep."_

"_Nyeah, nyeah," I said, quite of breath._

_She backed away and looked down at her feet "I know how you feel," she said._

"_No, you don't, nya," I said._

_Tailmon sighed. "Well, not exactly, no, but I do know what it feels like to never have felt love. I waited and waited for love to come. I knew my child would be there for me, but she never came. I wandered and wandered until all I found was evil, and there I remained. Tormented, tortured for years and years until there was hardly anything left of me by the time I found my child."_

_I bit my lip. What could I say to such a statement. I opened my mouth and just said, "Wow …" There was silence, then I felt it good to add, "I'm sorry, nya."_

"_It's not your fault," said Tailmon quietly. "Besides, I'm okay now."_

"_But is it worth all that you went through?" I asked._

"_I found Hikari. That's all that matters," said Tailmon. She turned away for a moment and then slowly looked upon Nyaasu. "When a digimon finds the child she is meant to help, you would sell your life dearly for her. You would give anything to make sure they were all right. Humans … even the humans that you 'look after' … they have something that no other living thing has."_

"_What's that?" I demanded. I was about to ask if it was a proneness to idiocy, but I bit my tongue just in time._

"_It's … difficult to explain," Tailmon admitted with a sigh._

_I had been expecting something profound, but I suppose it was because Tailmon always seemed to have all the answers._

_Oh, she wasn't so bad really. Just thick skinned. Maybe we were more alike than I had thought._

#

"Look what I found, Picodevimon-san!" sang a chumlimon holding up a sheet of parchment proudly above his head. He grinned widely, showing all his yellow, crooked teeth.

Picodevimon snatched the paper away. "Gimme that," he growled. Then as he read the contents of the paper, his eyes bulged. Turning sharply to the chumlimon, he let out a low growl and kicked the messenger in the face. "Where did you get this?" he demanded.

The whimpering chumlimon rubbed his cheek and looked on the verge of tears.

"Well?" demanded Picodevimon, fluttering in his flustered state.

"I thought you'd be happy, Picodevimon-san," said the chumlimon. "You wanted to find the humans, didn't you? Well, there one is."

"But we were supposed to find the missing human, first!" Picodevimon snapped. "Now we have to take him from the Ashen Queen!" He growled. "She'll make things extremely difficult — that sandlynxmon … Come on! Let's assemble the others. Those two scouts have to still keep an eye on the other human and Nyaasumon, but the rest of you, get back to the camp and await orders. I'll take the leader with me and a couple guards."

"Good idea, Picodevimon-san," agreed the chumlimon.

"Just shut up and do as you're told!" snarled Picodevimon, fluttering furiously.

The chumlimon disappeared in an instant.

#

"_Beans, beans, all I get is beans!"_

The voice echoed strangely from a television set sitting randomly on its side in the sand. _The Three Stooges_ was playing on it for one minute and then it would turn to _Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends_.

"_Mine card_!" said a fakey, Russian accent over the speakers, and another lighter voice replied, "_That voice, where have I heard that voice_?" "_In just about every other episode, but I don't know who it is either_!" said a final deep, slower voice before it switched back to _The Three Stooges_ again. _SMACK! _"_What's the matter with you_!?"

"O-o-o-o," said the koromon as they munched on Neamon's beans.

Musashi and Nyaasu exchanged glances as they ate their own beans. Then they rolled their eyes back to the screen.

Wiping sweat from her brow, Musashi stared down at her beans. All they _did_ get was beans, and for some days now. Not that she could complain. She was getting more to eat these days than she often had in her own world, but in this dry heat, she would give anything for something a bit more moist and flavorful. Key lime pie maybe. That would have been nice. Or even just some plain rice balls would be better than canned beans every day.

She let out a heavy groan.

At least they had water.

Nyaasu shook his head, breaking Musashi's thoughts as he said, "This is the weirdest thing I've ever _seen_, nya."

"What?" grumbled Musashi wearily.

"This TV and stuff all over the landscape, nyah!" Nyaasu cried motioning with his paws across the desert scene.

"I know!" cried Neamon, nudging Nyaasu in the ribs, "Isn't it great? I love it when that Curly guy does the dog impression thing! He's good!"

Glancing down at his chest, Nyaasu rubbed where he had been nudged and grabbed a bean with his chopsticks from his can.

"You would," said Musashi.

"But that thing he said about beans …" Neamon went on as if he had not heard, "does that mean he doesn't like _beans_!?"

"What kind of place is this anyway, nya?" Nyaasu wanted to know.

"The Digital World," laughed the koromon.

Musashi and Nyaasu sighed.

"_Dear old chiefy boy, honey pot, superior officer doll_!" cried the voice from the television again, and the strange, short, round character with a broad, goofy grin on his face kissed his superior for all he was worth. The leader shoved the subordinate away, "_Badenov, you're making my cuffs soggy_!"

"Psh-sh," grumbled Nyaasu. "That looks familiar, nya."

Musashi shot him a vile leer but decided not to be in the mood for anything violent at the moment. Besides that she could not deny that it was true. All she could do was grab at her water canteen and drown the reality of the cartoony images in a slug of liquid.

"For sale!?"

Everyone jumped and turned to the sudden exclamation that came so horrifyingly surprised in the form of the usually so collected Tailmon.

"What!?" Nyaasu and Musashi both cried together.

"For sale," said Agumon with a serious nod to Tailmon. "I just got word from Piyomon."

"What do you mean?" asked the koromon.

"What's for sale?" demanded Nyaasu.

"Something to eat besides beans!?" demanded Musashi.

"I like beans!" exclaimed Neamon.

"No!" said Tailmon, and she shook her head violently. "Kojiro."

Musashi and Nyaasu gasped. "Kojiro!"

"Nyah!" added Nyaasu.

#

_FOR SALE: REAL LIVE __**HUMAN BEING**_

_MALE/IN GOOD CONDITION BUT MANAGABLE/AGE UNKNOWN BUT OLDER THAN FIVE/ATTRACTIVE LAVENDER HAIR_

_PLACE: THE ASHEN PALACE THRONE ROOM_

_TIMES AVAILABLIE: 7 am thru 3 pm_

_**NAME YOUR BEST PRICE!**_

_And if you come before or after hours or offer something too lame you will pay dearly._

_HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!_

_Have a nice day._

_Signed,_

_Secretary to her royal highness the Ashen Queen of the Ashen Kingdom, Queen Sandlynxmon_

Again Picodevimon glanced down at the flyer. He glowered a moment and then shoved it into the mouth of a chumlimon.

"Now," he said, lightly. "Let me do the talking."

"Sure thing, Picodevimon-san," said the head Chumlimon with a deep nod. "I'll get the items to trade ready."

"You do that," muttered Picodevimon, and with that he proceeded to follow the queen's guard, a gokimon, up an open elevator.

It sparked occasionally and made awful grinding sounds that might have been an indication that the elevator would collapse, and the chumlimon were very afraid of the possibility as they screamed to the queen's guard to be let off.

"It's just noise," muttered the gokimon. "Nothing's going to happen."

Picodevimon glowered. "If something happened to injure me badly, it could bring very powerful digimon down on this little operation."

"We're perfectly capable of handling ourselves here, Picodevimon," snorted the queen's guard.

"That's Picodevimon-san to you," snapped a chumlimon.

"Silence, you chum head!" ordered the head chumlimon.

Picodevimon shook his head with annoyance and turned again sharply to the guard, "Does the name Vamdemon mean anything to you?"

The guard did not answer, but instead let everyone out of the elevator just then, as they had by this time reached the top.

"So?" demanded the queen, even before they were already out of the elevator. "What have you to offer me, Picodevimon, you twit?"

With an indignant scowl, Picodevimon approached the throne, but he did not forget to bow deeply and address the queen reverently as "sama". Then, clearing his throat, he said, "My queen, I humbly offer you the entire sum of one million dollars in cash for the human you have locked up in here."

"Detained," said the queen.

Picodevimon lifted an eye. "Excuse me?"

"The human is detained, not locked up, and the dollar is worthless as far as I'm concerned."

"Ah, well, then Sandlynxmon-sama," said Picodevimon said. "I would like to offer you one million in euro."

The queen let out a heavy yawn, and lifted at hand in front of her mouth idly.

"Uh … okay, not cash, how 'bout this brand new, hyper apple computer?" asked Picodevimon, and the head chumlimon held the desired item up for all to see.

"Nah," said the queen.

"This set of I-pods already downloaded with the world's most desirable songs," offered Picodevimon.

"Nope."

"This I-phone."

"Sorry."

"This I-pad."

"Don't think so."

Picodevimon growled with impatience. "Well, then what _do_ you want! I promise I'll get it to you!"

"Land," muttered the queen.

"Fine! Land! All the land owned by the chumlimon!" snapped picodevimon.

"Huh?" asked the head chumlimon.

Picodevimon gave him an assuring wink that calmed the chumlimon instantly.

The queen shrugged. "I was offered three times as much land just before you arrived, and I still haven't made my final decision, but if that's all you have, you may go."

"But!" screamed picodevimon. "No! wait! Let me just—"

"You may leave now," said the queen.

"NOOO! I _need_ that human! And I'm not leaving without him!"

"Take this digimon away," said the queen with a careless wave of her hand.

The cockroach-like gokimon grinned foully. "With pleasure!"

"I don't care to see him any longer," added the queen.

"I don't even believe you have a human here!" snapped Picodevimon. "I bet this is all a hoax. I bet—"

The queen held up a photograph and shoved it in Picodevimon's face. It was the human, all right, looking confused, miserable, and helpless. Just ripe for the taking of those vile claws of picodevimon!

"Now take him out!"

Picodevimon tried to protest, but the guard only obeyed, and threw him and his chumlimon right over the side of the throne room. They landed face first on the pavement below in a moaning, miserable heap.

_Vamdemon is gunna kill me_, Picodevimon thought.

* * *

*NOTE: _Before you say anything about Mondo mentioned in Nyaasu's little speech about himelf, Mondo is from the Pokémon radio show, and apparently in doing research I discovered that his appearance was completely different than what I had thought. He aided Musashi and Kojiro. Before that I thought he owned Nyaasu before he was owned by Musashi and Kojiro, but since I like how this makes the story go better, I'm leaving it to how I thought it had been before. He was never in the TV show anyway, so I can make him how I want XD. So let's just say in the "TV show" he owned Nyaasu first then Mondo was fired for being too nice and not being a motivated enough agent (Yikes, I don't want to know what that actually means for him, the poor thing) and then the boss had Nyaasu until he grew tired of his constant blabbing (two weeks maybe). Another important note is that I don't count really anything from that episode where Musashi, Kojiro and Nyaasu supposedly met while training for Team Rocket "Training Days", I do believe. So, yeah. People say it conflicts with other things in the show before that anyway, and I never saw the whole thing in English much less Japanese. ^^;_

NOTE 2:_ The Rocky and Bullwinkle lines and Three Stooges lines are from episodes; though, some of the wording might not be exact. XD Rocky and Bullwinkle's my favorite show! I had to put it in. Besides Team Rocket is a lot like Boris and Natasha. And the three stooges, well, that's kinda obvious, I think_.


	13. Meeting Limomon

JMJ

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

Meeting Limomon

Kojiro heard him before he saw him. The strange hiss for a moment had Kojiro hoping vainly that it would be the sound of Arbok, and the Musashi had come to rescue him. He could not hope so for long. Before he lifted his head he knew that even if he did hear Arbok that would only mean that Musashi and Arbok would be in the same predicament as he was. Shut up in this dungeon.

"How long have you been here?" whispered a voice from the same direction as the hiss.

Well, the voice definitely did not belong to Musashi.

Cringing and backing away as he stood up, Kojiro stared fearfully into the gloom of the narrow cell. One could not hide easily here, but he still saw no one at first.

_Unless something's up there,_ he thought, and he lifted his eyes along the tall walls. Up, up, up into the gloom. Past a barred window, past the spokes and spikes, up into sheer blackness. But he saw nothing.

"Down here," the voice hissed.

Kojiro's head returned to ground level so fast he gave himself a whiplash.

"Ah!" he cried. "Ouch, ouch, oh …" he moaned, rubbing his neck.

As he recovered a bit, he saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes directly in front of him.

"Ack!" Kojiro yelled, and nearly fell backwards.

Oh! He hated this place! He hated this place so-o-o-o much!

With a low growl, he returned his direction to the new creature.

"Well?" the digimon demanded.

It was still rather difficult to make him out in the gloom, but his body looked something like a cross between a lizard and a monkey. Long and lank, with powerful legs, and a tail, the length of which could certainly not be made out here, and it seemed in constant motion. It curled round and swished about, and twitched almost hypnotically behind him.

"'Well', what?" Kojiro demanded.

There was something he did not like about this creature, and he knew he would have thought so even if he had had good experiences with digimon thus far. As it was, his experiences with digimon had been anything but positive. Except for the koromon, almost all digimon seemed to want to destroy him.

His posture remained completely in the defensive.

The digimon shrugged very coyly in contrast. "I asked how long you'd been here."

Lowering his head, Kojiro growled in reply, "I dunno. A week. Why, how long were you here?"

"Just last night," said the creature. "I used to be a worker for the queen, but when I tried to escape … you know."

Closing his eyes, Kojiro slumped to the floor cross-legged and let out a loud moan. He leaned his elbow on his thigh then and rested his chin in his hand.

"I hate this place," he grumbled.

The digimon laughed, a boisterous, screechy sound (probably the monkey side) from an otherwise rather smooth reptilian sounding creature. He had to hold his head upright with a long, bony hand as he sat down across from Kojiro, and Kojiro could not help but raise a brow as he watched in silence at this quite untimely display of uncontrollable joviality.

"I don't see what's so funny," muttered Kojiro once the laughter had finally ceased.

"Oh, come on," said the digimon still recovering from a stray snort, "it's times like these you have to keep up your spirits the most."

Kojiro slammed his fist hard on the cell floor. "Don't tell me to keep up my spirits! I've kept up my spirits for years doing what I do! But this!? This is a good time to feel miserable! I've lost everything! And now they're auctioning me off like, like …"

"Future bacon?" asked the digimon with deep sympathy.

"Yeah!" cried Kojiro, slouching against the wall. "Like a pig or something!"

"Yeah," said the creature. "I seen your picture. It looks pretty serious, human."

"Kojiro," muttered Kojiro sulkily. "I'm called 'Kojiro', not 'human'."

The creature shook his head. "Why do humans name each other weird things like that?"

"I … I don't know," said Kojiro. "But I'm tired of being called 'human'." He turned away and dropped his face in his arms. "Just got away and leave me alone."

"Hey, come on, Kojiro," said the creature. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. All digimon mostly call themselves what their species are. Like me; I'm a limomon. I'm just called Limomon. I never met a human."

"Having a good look now!?" snapped Kojiro, his voice echoing against the cell walls with the heat of his temper. It took all his strength to keep from crying right then and there.

"Okay, fine," said Limomon, "I see you want to be alone. Okay."

With deep scrutiny, Kojiro watched as Limomon slunk to the other side of the room. He looked a little hurt as he slipped into the corner, but he soon disappeared where only his eyes just barely remained floating in shadow like a pair of yellow lanterns. Thankfully, they did not look at Kojiro. They just looked toward the door of the cell with reptilian intensity.

After a roll of his eyes, Kojiro once more dropped his head into his arms, and he pulled up his legs so that he could lean also against the wall with his arms on his knees.

A long time the pair sat in silence. Neither one turned to the other; though, in his paranoia, Kojiro had a feeling the creature watched him out of the corner of his wide yellow eyes. Then very slowly, Limomon shifted his eyes to the window behind him.

"My teeth could probably bite through the bars," he muttered.

Kojiro's eyes narrowed upon the creature.

"_What_?" he hissed.

"My teeth are very strong, and those bars are old and rusted," said Limomon.

Turning sharply to the window himself Kojiro mentally measured the distance to it from the floor. He would not be able to reach it, but if Musashi had been here he knew what she would say.

"Kojiro!" he could almost hear her voice order. "Stand over there and help me up."

Once more he turned to Limomon. "Are you sure … ?" he asked hesitantly.

It sounded too good to be true that the creature could escape this cell so easily. Surely his captors would have known about this little trait, but perhaps they had not considered the small window, as it was so insignificant. It would be a tight squeeze for both him and Kojiro even without the barrier of the bars.

"I'll make you a deal," said Limomon.

Kojiro stiffened and turned full attention to the digimon.

"You lift me on your shoulders so I can reach the bars, then once I'm out I'll pull you out after me," Limomon explained. "Sounds good, don't it?"

"Uh … yeah, yeah, it sounds great," said Kojiro; even though he did have his doubts, he ignored them. This chance was too good to pass up.

In a moment he stood beneath the window and Limomon slunk behind him in order to climb up upon his shoulders. He proved heavier than he looked too, and Kojiro was not sure how long he would be able to hold him before his spine would snap. Grunting and panting as he tried to steady himself against the cold, stone wall, he cringed as Limomon's claws dug into his shoulders.

"Hurry!" Kojiro squeaked. "You're too big. How 'bout I climb on you?"

"Keep it together down there," grumbled Limomon. "It kinda defies the purpose if I hold up you unless you're teeth can bite through the bars." He paused. "Can they? They don't look that strong."

"Just bite through the bars!" snarled Kojiro through clenched teeth.

"Fine, fine," said the Limomon, and he swung his head to the window. Then, positioning his head sideways with the grace of a raptor, he began to gnaw at the rustiest of the bars.

"Are you getting through?!" cried Kojiro.

"Sh-h-h-h-h," growled Limomon in return. "Keep it together. I'm doing the best I can."

Kojiro was about to complain more, but just when he thought he would collapse the weight suddenly lifted from his body. Looking up in surprise, he saw that Limomon had pulled himself up into the window and had just now begun to bite through his third bar. Just two more to go, and they would be out.

Arching his neck back for a better look, Kojiro pulled his fists in front of him in anticipation. He could not help a quick peek behind him, but no one was coming to the cell door so far.

"Come on," he whispered. "Come on!"

When he returned to the window, however, he gasped.

"Limomon?" he said.

The creature had vanished.

Leaping frantically back a pace or two, he tried to see better out the window, but all he could see was the blazing desert sunset.

That creep! He tricked him! He tricked him! Oh, how could Kojiro have been fooled so easily? He knew that Limomon did not seem trustworthy. He had just been so desperate to snatch any chance of escape he could not believe that he would be betrayed … again.

"No, no, no!" he growled, and kicked the wall angrily. "It's not fair!" He smacked the walls so hard his hands stung, but he felt too furious to care.

"What's not fair?"

Kojiro looked up and nearly fainted with relief upon seeing Limomon in the window.

"Uh …" Kojiro started, rubbing his hands tenderly. "Nothing."

"Well, come on, reach up here," said Limomon. "I can't help you up otherwise."

"Right," said Kojiro, and reaching up, he met with Limomon's long, cold, leathery hands, which soon had him up to the window ledge.

It _was_ a bit of a tight squeeze just as he had anticipated, but greater trouble distracted him from this problem as he saw the pressing matter of how they would get down.

All this time Kojiro thought he had been locked under the ground, but instead he was in a tower disguised as a cliff. The window had been cleverly hidden under a ledge, and the only way anywhere that Kojiro could see was a steep slope upwards. Otherwise, he only saw a sheer drop into a canyon. Of course it had a tiny Looney Toons like river snaking like a thread at the bottom just to make things all the better.

Kojiro closed his eyes and tried not to look down.

"This way, Kojiro."

Kojiro turned hesitantly toward the ledge where Limomon already began to climb.

"Hurry."

Swallowing proved difficult down his suddenly very dry throat, and Kojiro found himself to his dismay looking down at the thin line of blue at the bottom of the canyon once again.

"I … I can't do it," he murmured, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

"Come on!" growled Limomon.

That seemed enough to inspire him onward, for Kojiro instantly forced himself after Limomon. Up out of the window ledge and reaching up for the first hand hold, he climbed. Carefully. Slowly. The pair of them went up along the cliff. The hot wind fought against them all the way, and the desert sun mocked them as it descended with the final bit of color in the west.

Most of the time Kojiro used all concentration just on his climb, but when the climb became easier from time to time, or if the occasional resting ledge presented itself, he used all opportunity to see how far they were from the top. Even though they slowly drew nearer, it felt as though it would take forever to reach their destination.

Maybe if he had his pokémon, they could have helped them to the top. Maybe if he still had Chimecho* Kojiro could at least be calmed into a better mood about the situation. The thoughts of his missing pokémon, however, just made him feel all the worse, and made him glad that Chimecho had not been with him when he had been captured. It made him sick enough as it was to know that Weezing and Victreebel were being sold off somewhere. Was it too much to hope that they would be all right?

He cringed as he almost lost his footing on a crumbling piece of the cliff face.

Was it too much to hope that _he_ would be all right?

With thoughts still on his foot as he tried to find a better place to put it, he reached up his hand to get a better grip above, but a blue chill crashed over him and down his spine as his hand only met with empty air.

He let out a wail as he began falling backwards with the world spinning all around him, but just as he left the cliff face he managed instead to grab Limomon's swishing tail.

"Wah!" cried the digimon, almost losing his balance himself, but grabbed hard to the rocks, and recovering himself glared down. "You're not keeping it together very well," he muttered.

Clutching desperately to the tail of his fellow escapee, Kojiro looked up with nothing really to say as his heart still pounded furiously from the near death experience. Only a pair of saucer-wide eyes replied to Limomon's comment with specs for pupils narrowing in on him.

"Come on," grumbled Limomon with a shake of his head. "We're almost there."

He moved his tail with effort towards a safer gripping rock. Kojiro clasped onto it and continued to climb after Limomon in silence until suddenly Limon disappeared over the top of the ledge. Very quickly, he spun round to help Kojiro up the last few feet.

"Finally," Kojiro sighed, but his relief was short lived.

Just as he was pulling himself over the top, he heard a shout from behind him.

"There they are!"

Again Kojiro nearly lost his grasp and fell, but his time, he managed to catch himself, and Limomon, distracted by the events below, nearly stepped on Kojiro's hand to make things all the better. Before Kojiro could say anything however, Limomon, wrenched him up the rest of the way, practically throwing him onto the ground on top of the cliff.

With a loud moan, Kojiro lifted his head angrily at being so roughly treated, and he dragged himself to the edge.

Flying digimon raced through the air toward them.

"Ack!" he cried, leaping backwards. "What are we gunna do!? Don't you have any attacks?! Or does talking hinder learning moves like Nyaasu?"

"Don't be idiotic! Of course, I have attacks!" snorted Limomon and he leered down the side of the cliff. "Watch me, human."

Kojiro rolled his eyes. "It's Ko—"

But Limomon already disappeared.

"ji … ro … Wha …?"

Kojiro ran back to the ledge, fearing for a moment that Limomon had simply leapt right off, but he saw to his amazement that Limomon ran down the side of the cliff with amazing skill. He might as well have been running on flat ground, it looked so natural and smooth.

Then a slow, deep scowl of understanding clouded Kojiro's face despite the situation.

_Wait a second_, he thought. _If he can just climb up walls like that …_

But he did not have long to think about it.

"Air bomb!" cried one of the flying digimon.

That didn't sound good!

#

"Sorry," murmured the gokimon guard even before the odd company at the doorstep could speak. As he addressed them, she eyed them with disdain and sniffed with superiority. "No one is allowed to see the queen about the human after the hour of three O'clock pm and it's almost seven now. She needs her privacy and eats her supper. She has better things to do now. So go away."

Tailmon glowered, and carefully stepping up to the guard she was about to say something, but she knew seconds later that she should have been quicker for no sooner had to first syllable left her lips when Musashi leapt forward with Nyaasu inches behind.

"You show us where Kojiro is _now_!" Musashi snarled. She grabbed the digimon by the antennae. "Or I'll pull these off!"

"N-yeah! That's right, nya!" snapped Nyaasu. "We don't care if the queen's pruning her eye lashes, give us an audience or we'll come in there without you, nya!"

"And we mean it!" shouted Musashi. "I had it with you people!"

"'Digimon', nya," muttered Nyaasu.

"Whatever!"

"Musashi …" growled Tailmon.

Agumon quickly apprehended Musashi then and pulled her away from the screaming guard.

"Come on, Musashi. Please," said Agumon. "This isn't going to help anything!"

"Oh …" moaned the bug like guard, rubbing painfully at his head, but he suddenly let out a yelp as Tailmon appeared instead before his face.

"What?" demanded the gokimon angrily. "I can't help it, those are the rules!"

"Well, you don't have to be a jerk about it," Agumon pointed out.

"Yeah," agreed the koromon.

"You still can't come in!" the guard growled.

This was wasting time, Tailmon knew, and with eyes rising upward in disgust, she knew of only one thing to do. She pushed passed the guard anyways.

"Hey!" he cried.

"Wait!"

Tailmon turned around and Agumon stepped forward resolutely.

"It might be better to do as he says and wait until morning."

"WHAT!?" cried Musashi and Nyaasu.

The gokimon laughed. "That's smart of you, Agumon." And as he turned to the others with a haughty grin he added, "You should follow the advice of your friend."

No one paid him the least bit of attention.

"Are you crazy, nya?" Nyaasu demanded, flailing his arms helplessly in front of Agumon.

"They could be torturing Kojiro in there!" snapped Musashi. "And you want to wait!?"

With a heavy sigh, Tailmon returned to her companions.

Agumon was right. They would have a better chance of getting Kojiro back if they did not just storm into the castle and anger the queen and her guards which outnumbered them a hundred to one. They would not stand a chance.

"Agumon's right," said Neamon, and the koromon agreed.

"Yeah," hissed the guard. "That's right, now beat until tomorrow."

Nyaasu growled, and Tailmon saw out of the corner of her eye, the little cat about to make a slash at the gokimon, but Neamon plucked him promptly from the ground and took him away.

"Hey, lemme go, nya! Lemme go! Lemme at him, nya!"

"Tomorrow," said Tailmon to the gokimon.

But even now would have been too late even if the queen would have been in a cooperative mood. If they had only known that Kojiro had already gone!


	14. Unfair Bargains

JMJ

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

Unfair Bargains

Kojiro dropped instantly to the ground and covered his head against the oncoming attack.

"Shadow glare!" snarled Limomon in return.

Limomon's attack must have worked too, because the deadly explosion just barely missed Kojiro even on the ground as he was. Shivering so hard his teeth started chattering, Kojiro crept carefully to the edge of the cliff once more, but all was silent for a time. Then Limomon appeared, alone and completely unscathed.

Kojiro gulped, pushing up onto his knees. "What did you do to them? Where did they go?"

With a careless shrug Limomon seated himself on the ground and looked over the desert smoothly.

"Well?" Kojiro demanded.

"They fell to the bottom of the cliff, Kojiro," replied Limomon with a satisfied sniff.

"That … that must be some glare then," said Kojiro, and he laughed timidly.

Limomon chose not to respond to the observation. He must not have thought it worth a response, but after a short pause, he said, "We can't stay here long."

"But I'm tired!" whined Kojiro, now seated cross-legged and slumping over his lap. "Can't we rest a little while?"

"Do you want more digimon to come and get us?"

What else could Kojiro answer to such a question? Shaking his head, Kojiro told him that he certainly did not want any such thing.

"Then just catch your breath and let's get going."

Kojiro could only moan as a reply as he dropped onto his back.

Stars peeped out of the quickly blackening sky. It would not be long before night took its full hold.

Every muscle ached from that miserable climb, and Kojiro's bite felt sorer than it had since it had been bandaged by the koemon. He could have easily fallen asleep right then and there and not woken up until late the next morning.

He missed Musashi, he missed Nyaasu, he missed Weezing and Victreebel, and sure Arbok and Lickitongue too. He even missed that kid, Satoshi, that was his name, and Pikachu and those other children that followed them. They weren't so bad really. Seriously, who could blame them for hating Team Rocket and sending them flying. "Yana Kanji," Kojiro could not help but mutter. All Team Rocket ever did was try to steal that Pikachu all the time, stalk those kids around, get into their business, and be just downright creepy. Who wouldn't hate them? But he would give anything to be hated by them now. Just a simple blast off. That's all he wanted. Landing in a tree with a twisted ankle and bump on his head. Sure, he missed those night just sitting in a circle with his team after a miserable day of failure and not having to worry about any more pain until they asked for it. He almost missed home in a strange sort of way. He would not go so far as to say he missed Rumika. He would never go as far as that! But there was just one small part of him now that wished that he had not run away. He almost wished there could have been some way he could have stayed with Chimecho at that summer home without the overhanging fear of Rumika discovering him there … as pointless as such wishing was. As long as he was at it, he might as well wish that Rumika had been what he thought she had been the very first time he had ever met her and that she had not been such a domineering creep that made Musashi look like an angel in comparison. Then there would have been no reason for him to have run away. Then he would have been made master of the family estate and could have lived his whole life in luxury doing whatever he pleased with a family he could have raised the way he wanted (not so stiffly and coldly as his own parents had) and with a caring wife and his loving Gar-chan. The happiest, fairy tale ending in the whole wide world that could never happen in a million …

"Kojiro!" a voice hissed.

Kojiro sprang up off his back.

"What?" he asked groggily, rubbing his head and trying to straighten his eyes.

He almost _had_ fallen asleep.

"Come on, you were starting to snore," said Limomon. "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah," Kojiro muttered, still rather sleepily. "Yeah, okay. I'm coming."

Without another word, he followed blindly after Limomon for some time. Away from the desert and into the dry reeds beyond where they slowly made their way into a valley.

"Do you know where we're going?" asked Kojiro finally, just as he tripped over a root with seemingly no tree attached. Its sole purpose must have been to trip up half-asleep travelers, but he was waking up by now.

"Yeah, I got a destination in mind," said Limomon without looking back. In fact at the thought of this destination, his paced seemed to quicken, and Kojiro lunged to keep up. "We'll be able to lay low there. No one will be able to find us fugitives."

"Then what?" Kojiro wanted to know. "You know, I got friends and—"

"How long have they been looking for you?"

Kojiro stopped. "What?" he demanded, squinting one eye and raising the other.

"I said," said Limomon, stopping now too and swiveling around towards the human, "how long have they been looking for you?"

"Since I got lost in the first place," snapped Kojiro not liking Limomon's tone. "What are you getting at?"

"Well, they might have given up by now," said Limomon with a shrug.

"No!" cried Kojiro defensively. "They're still looking!"

"But they might think you're dead," Limomon pointed out.

"Musashi wouldn't stop looking!" He had to believe that. He could not _not_ believe that! He refused to allow the idea to hold fast in his mind, that she would not still be looking for him.

"It would be pointless to look for someone who is obviously nowhere to be found," said Limomon, "and I heard that you were attacked by megaseadramon."

"Yeah, so?!" Kojiro demanded. He could feel himself shake as the barrier he had put up to guard himself against losing hope slowly melted away, leaving him bare to all dark and miserable doubt and hopelessness. It rose up like a black tidal wave ready to snatch him in its icy, heavy grip and drag him into the sea where Musashi certainly would have thought he spent his last minutes.

"No one's looking for you," said Limomon, his great yellow eyes staring into him, with the backdrop of his swishing tail drawing Kojiro in hypnotically.

"But …" Kojiro tried to remind himself out loud, "But the posters for …"

"The posters for your piggy auction," finished Limomon.

Kojiro lowered his head.

"You're nothing but a piggy poster, aren't you?" pressed Limomon.

"No!" cried Kojiro in a voice that quickly turned into a sob. "I'm … I'm … I'm not …"

"What are you, Kojiro?" asked Limomon lightly with a cock of his head that might have been called playful, but it seemed in reaction to Kojiro's collapsing upon his knees in the mud in the reeds in defeat.

"I'm …" Kojiro said, "I'm … a … an agent. A _Team Rocket_ agent!" His voice was hardly more than a squeak now no matter how desperately he tried to sound bold, daring, his agent-voice he use on the brat boy and other perspective victims of Team Rocket. It was in vain. "I don't take orders from pokémon _or_ digimon. _We_ give the orders. 'For the sake of preventing world destruction, for the sake of protecting world peace, to penetrate the evils of … love and … love and … truth …The lovely and charming villains …'" he choked on the strange lump forming his throat. "_Kojiro—_!"

Musashi …

He bit his lip and raised his eyes again to Limomon whose face now appeared very close to his, or maybe it was just that all else had become black save for the image of Limomon's eyes, the glint of his teeth, and swishing of his tail. Kojiro felt his beloved motto feel so cold and hallow in his mouth even after they left his lips. What did the words even mean? He did not even know anymore if ever had.

"Love and truth," hissed Limomon. "'The evils of love and truth'? Is that what you're about, lovely and charming villain?" Here Kojiro let out a painfully heavy breath of air. "Then let us do as you propose, Kojiro, Team Rocket agent."

Kojiro had no will to reply but simply stared dejectedly in return as a terrible marine battle took hold in his stomach and made him feel about to throw up, but he didn't. He just continued to stare as Limomon continued to speak.

"Let us plunge into the vacuum of space inside your world," said the digimon. "Let us curb the chaos that is there and bring peace to your mind, Kojiro. Let us penetrate those evils."

He laughed, and he, with a dark blue claw, tapped Kojiro's chest where his heart pounded frantically — the only part of him still panicking with his mind, for the rest of him had already submitted to Limomon's hypnotic darkness.

Then Limomon repeated, "The evils of love and of truth."

#

Nyaasu looked from the queen then back to Tailmon then back to Sandlynxmon again.

Tailmon had made it pretty clear. If the Ashen Queen did not return the human to them forthwith, Tailmon would gather all the vaccine digimon she could to war against the kingdom for him. She meant it too, Nyaasu knew only too well.

Glancing up at Musashi beside him briefly, he tried to get her attention, but decided against it after a time, for it seemed she was purposely ignoring him. Returned to the queen, he awaited her answer, but Musashi finally chose to notice him just as he turned away.

"What?" she whispered.

Nyaasu shrugged but did not raise his eyes to her. "Nya-othing, nya."

"It's a deal," said the queen.

Both he and Musashi looked up in surprise.

"Really?" asked Agumon doubtfully.

"Wow, that was easy!" exclaimed Neamon, yet something in his tone told Nyaasu that the strange digimon felt just as suspicious. This made Nyaasu feel uneasy.

"If you promise to leave this place and never return, I will return to you the human," said Sandlynxmon.

"Fine!" snapped Musashi. "Now give us back Ko—"

"I can't make that promise," Tailmon interrupted calmly.

Although stepping down in silence, Musashi did so only after flashing a sullen leer in Tailmon's direction.

"You have enslaved good digimon here," Agumon added. "So we can't promise not to interfere."

The koromon nodded but were too intimidated to voice their opinion out loud to the queen.

"Then neither can I promise you the human," said the queen. She paused, pursing her lips and looking thoughtfully above her. "Unless …"

"Nyah?" Nyaasu demanded.

"'Unless?'" pushed Musashi.

"We pay you, nya?" asked Nyaasu.

"No, no," muttered the queen.

"You know," said Neamon suddenly, causing the queen's glare to fall upon him. "If you _keep_ the human, really bad viruses will come and wreck the whole place and probably kill you and all your subjects."

Nyaasu could not help a smile. Neamon was not quite as bean-headed as he looked.

The Ashen queen had to think about this one longer than the first thing that Tailmon brought up.

"Okay," she said after a few moments, looking somewhat remorseful as she turned to a gokimon guard beside her. "I suppose you do have a point."

"So can we have Kojiro, nya?" asked Nyaasu.

"Go and get him," Sandlynxmon sniffed, and threw her arm and scepter out toward a doorway. "The guards will take you."

Everyone was hesitant at first, but they could not say 'no' now however uncomfortable the situation was. They allowed the guard to lead them through a dark tunnel and inside the side of a cliff. Up one flight of stairs and down another. Musashi looked on the verge of biting her tails (an activity she was not at all known for), and Nyaasu glancing at his tense teammate decided he would rather be next to Tailmon. He leapt beside her.

Tailmon looked at him a moment but said nothing.

As they walked along the stuffy passage, Nyaasu watched the cells they passed by. Each one had him wondering whether it was occupied by some prisoner or other, and it made him shiver. The occasional echoing moan or cry did not help any either. No prison in his world could possibly be this dirty, cold, and miserable.

Then quite abruptly the gokimon stopped before one cell in particular.

Nyaasu looked up and groaned.

It even read "human" above the cell door in big bold letters.

Without a word, the guard took up his keys and looked through them passively.

"Hurry it up!" cried Musashi.

She made to push past the guard and to grab at the door herself, if not to open it certainly it was to scream for Kojiro and tell him that they had come to get him. However, just as she neared the guard, the guard held up the key, and everyone held their breath as the guard pushed it in the lock and opened the door.

A painful, typical, teeth-clenching creak sounded and revealed the blackness of the cell. No one could see anything, but perhaps Kojiro was in a state of shock, Nyaasu thought.

He did not have long to muse over this, for the moment the door was opened, Musashi leapt inside. The koromon were soon to follow with Neamon, and Nyaasu running inside after them. Only Tailmon and Agumon remained at the entrance, but just as Musashi turned around with the exclamation that Kojiro was not to be found, the guard roughly shoved Agumon and Tailmon inside. It happened so fast, they could not react before the cell door slammed shut and was quickly locked behind them.

"Hey!" cried Agumon.

Neamon scrunched his nose. "That's not very nice!" he pointed out.

Everyone rammed the cell door in fury.

"You can't do this to us, nya!" snarled Nyaasu through the shouts and cries of the koromon.

"You'll be sorry!" Tailmon hissed.

"Let us out!" demanded Agumon.

"Where's Kojiro!?" cried Musashi.

"He's not here," replied the gokimon guard, spitting his words as he spoke, and he promptly turned to leave. "But that's okay, cuz now we have a new human."

Nyaasu turned to Musashi, at first just as horrified as she was, but then he took an involuntary step backwards as he watched his companion's face go from shocked to angry. She turned quite pale for a moment, and then slowly she went from moon colored to the color of beetroot. Closing his eyes, Nyaasu looked away as Musashi threw back her head and let out the anticipated scream.

"Let us out right now, or I'll pop those antennae off your sorry head, you punk!" cried Musashi, reaching through the bars and just missing one of the digimon's antennae.

He let out a yelp.

"Sorry, but orders are orders," said the digimon, quickly backing away, "and now I hardly feel sympathetic for someone who wants to dismember me. Besides, the queen may decide to keep you. After all, she might like your spunk." And with that he started away.

"Come back here, you!" growled Musashi, shaking a fist through the bars. "I'll show you spunk!"

"Musashi, nya," Nyaasu whispered.

He did not know why, but Musashi's screams, as often as he had seen them, were painful to watch now. The frustration and helplessness she expressed in her anger made him feel all the more frustrated and helpless himself.

"What?!" snarled Musashi, turned sharply to Nyaasu who let out a surprised meow.

Nyaasu lowered his head. "Nya-ever mind." He turned to the others.

The koromon were surrounding Agumon and begging him and Tailmon to tell them what they should do now. Nyaasu wished they would tell them too.

#

Picodevimon shook painfully, but he had no time to nurse his wounds as he stared up at his master hidden in the shadows of the darkened room. Vamdemon's power may not have been what it once had been, but he still was as dark and cruel as ever, and failure was not an option unless one wanted pain. Although, the fact that Picodevimon had not informed him about the humans first thing even if his master easily found out on his own, had not made matters any better.

"I can still get him, Vamdemon-sama," said Picodevimon in a shivery squeal, quite unlike his false humility in front of the Ashen Queen. "He's escaped, but the other human and her friends haven't found him yet. I got a plan. I—"

"That human is already being taken care of," interrupted the deep, sinister voice from the shadow of his master.

Picodevimon gulped. "W-w-what do you mean?"

"Your services are required no longer for this human," said the master. "Your failure inspired me to enlist different help."

In shock, Picodevimon's jaw dropped to the ground, and he let out a barely audible squeak.

"But, Vamdemon-sama!" he gasped. "I can get the other human then, right?"

The shadow did not answer but with only the squeaks and shrill cries of the bats that surrounded him.

"She's been captured now by Sandlynxmon, but I can get her and bring her too you as well, oh, master!"

"I do not want to see your face until you have brought her before me or she has been destroyed by some other means."

The shadow disappeared, and Picodevimon could only sigh with relief.


	15. Tower

JMJ

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

Tower

When Kojiro awoke, he had no idea where he was. He had no idea where he had been, and as he lifted his head he could not say why he felt so sore and awful. The dry reeds digging up under his shirt from behind had been what had woken him, though. He groaned, and after a moment of rubbing his back he kicked the reeds near him savagely. Wearily, he closed his eyes as he sat upright and stretched. When he opened his eyes again he saw only the yellow lanterns for eyes in the skull of Limomon.

"Ah!" Kojiro cried, and fell backward onto his hands.

"I brought you some food," said Limomon with a smooth smile. "It's not much, I'm afraid, but this place isn't known for good victuals."

He held up an egg in his large, purple-clawed paw, and Kojiro took it hesitantly, his eyes all the while locked on Limomon's.

Thoughts of the night before slowly returned to him, and even if they had not, he could not shake this feeling of misery that hung over him like his own personal rain cloud. He felt chilled to the bone, although he was not exactly cold. He slowly recalled coming to this spot in the field of reeds after the fight on the cliff. He remembered stopping to argue with Limomon about something, but what they argued about Kojiro could not remember. There had been a terrible dream, though, once he had fallen asleep. He could not remember this either really, but he remembered the chill of the empty darkness, and the glow of eyes upon him. He could not escape as he was drilled over and over questions that he now could not remember. He had answered them all, though, whatever they had been, and somehow he felt that they were deeply personal questions, at least some of them.

Now as he stared at Limomon, those eyes piercing him like a stick through a chunk of fried chicken, Kojiro felt that surely the eyes he had dreamt were Limomon's, and even though it had only been a dream, it made him want to run away from this creature. He might have done this too, but the downcast feeling kept him from even scrambling to his feet.

A weary sigh escaped him, and he turned to his egg (mysteriously hardboiled), which he soon had peeled, and ready to eat. He took a large bite and closed his eyes, chewing at a sluggish pace.

"How are you feeling this morning, Kojiro?" asked Limomon. "You don't look so good."

Kojiro continued to chew and did not answer until he had sufficiently swallowed.

"I feel terrible," he said barely above a whisper, and voice was quickly carried away by a sudden breeze.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Limomon, whose clever ears could have picked up a nasty mutter across the field.

"I bet you are," Kojiro grumbled before taking another bite of his egg. The last bite was smaller than the first two, and he added that to his second half-way through chewing. With nothing left in his hands, he crossed his arms sulkily and ignored the rumblings of his stomach.

"Have I done something wrong?" asked Limomon lightly.

Kojiro glared but said nothing for a few minutes even after he had gulped down the last of his egg.

"What do you want?" he demanded at last.

"What do you mean?" asked Limomon, and he smiled. "We're partners. We escaped together. Don't you remember?"

"Of course, I remember," said Kojiro. "And you must think I'm pretty stupid."

Limomon lifted a haughty brow. "I'm not following."

"You could have gotten out of that cell all by yourself," said Kojiro, eyeing him with dagger-like. "You didn't need my help."

"Pfft, Kojiro," said Limomon completely unconcerned. "Does anyone?"

"What?!"

"Well, people only keep you around because they think you look too pitiful to leave behind," muttered Limomon.

At that Kojiro sprang to his feet, body stiffly held in the stance of wrestler ready to fight. "What do you know about me?! Nothing! You don't know anything! Oh, why don't you go away and leave me alone! I don't need _you_!"

"Sure you do, Kojiro," said Limomon. "Without Musashi you're nothing, and now that she's not around …"

In blind fury Kojiro lunged for Limomon and grabbed him around the neck shaking him violently.

"What do you know about Musashi? You leave her out of this! You, you CREEP! You don't know anything!"

Limomon shoved Kojiro easily away, and for a split second Kojiro had to wonder why had not done so sooner.

"I don't need her," Kojiro growled then. "I don't need anyone! I'm not helpless! I was doing just fine before you showed up!"

"Well," said Limomon with a sly grin. "Then I suppose if you're so tough, you can handle the terrible news."

"What are you talking about now!?" cried Kojiro. "Oh, if I had my pokémon, I'd—"

"But you don't have your pokémon," Limomon reminded him, and he closed the gap between himself and Kojiro with a graceful swish of his long tail. "You don't have anything. You're a long way from home, little boy."

The chill that Kojiro had felt when he had first woke up grew stronger, and he could not help but hold his arms and shudder as if a blast of frozen wind had suddenly whipped down upon him. Why did he feel so miserable? Why couldn't he shake this unnatural feeling of dread and misery? It was that Limomon. It had to be him. It just had to be him! Kojiro had to find Musashi. He had to find Nyaasu! Before Limomon destroyed his ability to think!

He turned away back towards the cliff. If he started to run would Limomon chase him down?

Oh, how he wished his partners were here, but they weren't, they weren't …

"They aren't coming back, Kojiro," said Limomon coolly from behind. "Musashi and Nyaasu will never come back again, and the only place you will see them is six feet under if you dig up their remains."

Kojiro froze. His entire mind went blank, and turning back to Limomon, Kojiro stared wide-eyed with jaw dropped and hands hanging loose at his sides. Had he even comprehended what Limomon had just said? He was not sure. He was not sure of anything anymore.

"W-w-what?" he finally managed.

"To put it simply," retorted the digimon. "They're dead. Both of them. Dead. Killed by the Ashen Queen along with all the digimon that were traveling with them."

Still staring rather blankly, Kojiro slowly shook his head.

"I don't believe you," he said in a hollow voice he hardly recognized.

"I have a photo to prove it," said Limomon.

"You wha …? _Nani_!?"

A card flashed before Kojiro's eyes. In reality it was only a tough piece of reed, but it was far too late for Kojiro to use his senses correctly. Kojiro only saw what Limomon wanted him to see, what Kojiro feared, for only fear and misery controlled Kojiro's mind now.

He snatched the reed away. The lifeless forms of his teammates in the photo he imagined might as well have been right in front of him. The dirt and blood that covered them, the disregard anyone had for them, it made him sick. So sick, he threw up his egg he had just eaten. He couldn't take it. The reed fluttered away, and he now knelt on the ground clutching his stomach tightly. He hardly had the will to move away from his barely digested egg.

He felt so cold. He felt so lost. It was indescribable what he really felt, but he certainly thought he would die right there on the spot. With eyes slowly closing, he leaned down on the ground, pressing his hands to his face and then moving his fingers up into his hair wet with cold sweat.

"Kojiro …"

The voice cracked through his mind like first crack of thunder at the beginning of a storm, but he did not answer.

"Kojiro," said Limomon again. "You're an agent, right?"

"I guess so," Kojiro said weakly. It hurt to talk. It hurt even to move his mouth.

"You ran away from home at the age of twelve," said Limomon, "from an arranged marriage. You were too cowardly to protest. Too cowardly to stand up against her, against your parents, against anyone. You were always a coward, a spineless, wretched, disgusting creature hardly deserving of life. I'm surprised they even bothered with you at all. In your cowardliness you could only run away. You sucked so bad, you could not even go to school. You joined a lousy gang cuz no one else would take you. Then even they rejected you. You joined Team Rocket. Yes, you joined Team Rocket, a pathetic waste of an agent as you were. Always getting in your teammates' way. Always wrecking the plots. It was _you_, wasn't it, Kojiro? You were pathetic and still are, and now it's your fault they're _dead_."

Snapping his head upright, Kojiro stared at Limomon with wide, green eyes.

"My …" Kojiro squeaked.

"But there is one place left for you, little boy," said Limomon.

Kojiro only continued to stare.

"You could come to the Tower," said Limomon. As Kojiro still said nothing, Limomon explained further. "There is an employer there looking for agents. With your past experience, such as it is, you may get lucky. He's very much like your Giovanni too." He leaped in close and wrapped a heavy claw upon Kojiro's shoulder. "But he doesn't care where his agents come from so long as they know how to obey orders."

"I don't, guh, I don't know how," choked Kojiro in shallow breaths, "to do … to … do … anything."

"Oh, it'll be fine, trust me," said Limomon cheerily, and he shrugged. "What've you got to lose?"

"Nothing," said Kojiro, swallowing with difficulty.

Limomon chuckled. "That's so very true, isn't it?"

As Limomon turned to leave, Kojiro followed. It took him a moment or two to manage standing upright, but he obeyed Limomon's command to follow. He could do nothing else now. With no way to get home, his friends dead, his pokémon lost, he had, as he had just stated, absolutely nothing left in the world. He wouldn't have wanted to go back home now anyway even if a doorway opened for him that instant. What would have been the point?

He followed after Limomon like one in a delirious daze, stumbling now and then, slowly lifting himself back up, waving his arms in front of him when he thought he would fall again. A bit Frodo-in-Mordor-like, but all so meagerly hearted. He did not know for how long they traveled, nor did he care.

Everything seemed the same in what he perceived as the most barren of landscapes; though Kojiro could only see the jagged knives of rocks and could no longer see the gentle moss or the jungle flowers that peeped up now and then. Upon passing the peaceful waters of a tree guarded lagoon, Kojiro only saw a lukewarm, dead pool. The trees themselves seemed to have cried it as they drooped their weeping bows over the sides. They sky looked dark even at midday, not that he looked up much, but the clouds always seemed so dark and miserable. Lost was Kojiro in this aura of darkness and it remained — no! It grew stronger still as they reached a valley which was in reality quite dark. At the bottom lay the black tower where Limomon had meant to take him.

For the first time since they began their trek, Kojiro lifted his head slowly to face Limomon.

"This is it," he said miserably.

"No, no, Kojiro," said the Limomon. "Think of it as the beginning. Here you will be cleansed of all the past love and all the pain caused by love. All weakness caused by pity. All gentleness and innocence that have been faults in you and have caused you nothing but betrayal. You will be an agent and an agent only until you can prove yourself. Rise in ranks to be … how does Team Rocket put it? How did you say it … 'number one'? Then, Kojiro, you will be unleashed, the ultimate weapon, and all the Digital World will fall before you just as you have fallen before the Digital World. Kojiro the First, second and improved Digimon Kaiser!"

Kojiro could not be sure that he made sense of all Limomon had said, but it was not likely that Limomon truly meant for him to understand. With a barely perceptible nod of his head, Kojiro replied very softly, "Okay."

"Now, come on, and I will lead you to your new master," said Limomon. "You will refer to him as nothing else but Vamdemon-sama!"

"Sure," said Kojiro with a shrug.

Up to the heavy black doors, Kojiro trudged behind Limomon. Gothic gargoyles leered down from high pillars with jaws open and ready to devoir him.

Limomon let out a light chuckle as he reached a paw casually for the massive doorbell. "It's amusing actually. The second Kaiser named 'Kojiro'. It's as if you were made for the position. In fact, if you don't mind my saying, there are even similarities in appearance to you and the first Kaiser, if you stick your hair up weird."

Kojiro lowered his eyes from the gargoyles and blinked hazily at Limomon who reached up to ring the doorbell. Honestly, Kojiro could not tell much of a difference between the revolting statues and the strange monkey, lizard of a creature which reminded him more and more of the mythical beast known as the kappa which sucked the essence of life from men.

The massive bong of the doorbell struck the air like a gong as the rope was released from those ugly claws, and only seconds after the sound, one of the vault-like doors opened with a teeth-setting screech. A tiny digimon, more eyes than body, stood in the crack, and his very large eyes grew wider as they fell upon Kojiro. In the gloom, all one could see was his eyes.

"I have brought the human," said Limomon.

"Right this way, Limomon-san," said the creature; though his eyes never left Kojiro as he led both inside the castle.

All was black, the smell of death hung strongly in the air. For all Kojiro knew, he was dead, except that he ached much from traveling. The only movement in here was made by the tiny creatures with white-orbed eyes, scurrying like something between fearful servants and rats to and fro upon the balcony or into the rooms beyond the great hall upon which Kojiro and Limomon had entered. From time to time, Kojiro also thought he heard the squeaks of bats, but he could not see them. Besides the ceiling seemed to go on forever into a bottomless, upside down well. For all he knew he was upside down. He decided it was more likely that he was upside down than dead. Like a mythical bat beast himself.

Straight down the great hall, Kojiro followed Limomon without question. Straight past the spiral staircases, various doorways, and more hideous statues, they walked until they reached the doorway at the end of the corridor. This undoubtedly led to the throne room.

"Here we are!" said Limomon. "Before we get you situated in your room, you must meet your master."

The doors, on cue, seemed to open of their own accord, whether they did or not, however, Kojiro did not even look. The slow beasts of wood and metal, pushed into the utter black pit beyond. The sound of bats screamed loudly in Kojiro's ears, and a chill breeze that was unlike anything of the freshness of winter, but as putrid as the breath of death, attempted to suffocate him as Limomon pushed him into the room.

Then uncovering his head as the bats died away, his eyes widened as the faint image of the master of the castle appeared before him. Unable to hold himself up, Kojiro, fell on his knees in a heap of terror and loss. He had no will to scream. All resistance had been for now beaten out of him as only a psychological beating can.

Only his heart even tried to resist.

Beating harder and harder in his chest, that perpetual pump struggled and bellowed within him, readying its attached system for a flight or a fight that Kojiro did not use. He only stared up helplessly in his plight as this new enemy moved in for the kill, or maybe it was just going to seal the deal. His putrid breath was upon him now as he looked Kojiro straight in the face, mere inches from his own, and the creature opened his mouth to speak.

#

"What is that smell?" Musashi groaned, as she waved her hand out in front of her nose.

To even further her point, she ever stuck out her tongue as if she had tasted something moldy, and she shook her head.

Neamon looked up, seemingly from sleep or at least from a daydream of some kind, and he turned to Musashi with a sheepish grin.

Sweat drop cued.

"Oh!" Musashi growled, and leaping to her feet, she took up her fist unable to contain herself any longer.

Not one second more of this crap could she bear. Not only did she have to be locked up in here, not only was she to take Kojiro's place as the human for sale, and not to mention they Kojiro still could not be found, now she had to be trapped with the stupidest, most annoying creature that ever lived! she slammed Neamon into the ground.

"Ack!" cried the unprepared digimon.

"Hey!" Agumon cried.

"The consequence of beans," Neamon admitted with a moan from the ground.

"That's so-o-o-o-o disgusting!" Musashi squeaked, and then, jumping to her feet she yelled, "Just shut up! Shut up! All of you!"

"Don't take it out on Neamon!" snapped Tailmon, "And don't tell us to shut up!"

"Why, what are you gunna do?" Musashi demanded.

"Apologize to Neamon!" cried Agumon.

Musashi spun away with the emotional swoosh of a complete drama queen. She blew a stray strand of hair out of her hot, red face, and crossed her arms tightly as if that in itself was an act of resistance.

"Musashi …" Tailmon warned.

Leaning back with front paws behind his head, Nyaasu glanced up at Musashi, still not giving up her melodramatic spotlight. She let out a loud "humph!" and tightened her posture into as stubborn a female pose and pout as a woman possibly could manage.

"Come on, Musashi," groaned Nyaasu, "just apologize already, nya."

Bad move, Nyaasu decided even before he finished his words, and his fears proved not in vain as mere seconds later, that red-flame of hair and matching face blazed in front of his own, right in front of his own too.

"You stay out of this!" Musashi screamed, and she kicked him hard across the cell until Nyaasu hit the wall.

The koromon cringed as Nyaasu slipped off the wall to the floor with a painful meow.

"_Musashi_!" snarled Tailmon, standing in front of her before the young woman could continue her tantrum. "Musashi, stop acting like a brat!"

"_Brat_!" screeched Musashi. "I'm not acting like a brat! I want to get out of here! And I want to get out of here NOW!" It seemed to take all her strength to keep the stray tears which flew from her face from forming into a pair of waterfalls, for she suddenly stopped and squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

"We're working on it!" Agumon said.

"And if you don't stop right now!" growled Tailmon through clenched teeth. "I'll make you wish you'd listened to me!"

"But you can't hurt humans," Musashi pointed out quite in a sudden change of mood, holding up a sassy hand as she placed her other hand triumphantly upon her hip.

Tailmon closed her eyes, and refrained from saying something, that probably would have caused even more of the ruckus.

"Do you want that queen lady to sell you, nya?"

Musashi's eyes darted for the now recovered Nyaasu standing for his own paws crossed and chest held high.

With a pursed lip and a knitted brow, Musashi paused. " … No," she hissed, "but, Nyaasu, that's beside the point. Not to mention that s_omebody_ has to make the situation all the worse with his stinking beans!"

"Hey, I _like_ beans!" cried Neamon with great offence.

"_I know_!" Musashi shrieked.

Nyaasu rolled his eyes.

"Okay, that's it, nya!" he said. "We've been sitting in here for hours like this, and it's obviously not going to get any better any time soon. I'm not going to die from noxious fumes, nya! And we'll all die soon enough with Musashi freaking out."

"Oh, Nyaasu, you're so gunna get it," Musashi hissed.

Nyaasu ignored her, and instead stepped up to Tailmon. "Tailmon, how do we get out of this place?"

"I …" Tailmon began, and she looked away slowly toward the freshly redone bars on the window. "I don't know yet." Yet here she turned sharply back. "But we will, I promise you that. Just don't lose your head … any of us!" She glared at Musashi, but Musashi with another drama queen flare and a sweeping movement of her snakelike hair that almost hit a koromon in the face, looked away haughtily.

They had been trapped this cell since yesterday, and no one had entered to search them out not to mention feed them. The rest of the water and bean supply had finally run out at breakfast, and now there seemed nothing left to do but await the next move of the Ashen Queen.

Looking up to the ceiling Nyaasu muttered, "Can't we just bust down the door."

"The guards will come before we'd get anywhere," muttered Tailmon, "and although, if we stay here much longer, it'll definitely be worth the risk, especially with Kojiro still out there and now the Ashen Queen ready to sell off Musashi—"

"But if there's a quieter way to get out without risk of anyone getting hurt," Agumon cut in, "it'll be better for everyone."

"You and I could make it past them pretty well," said Tailmon.

"But we can't risk the koromon and the human just yet," Agumon insisted.

Tailmon shook her head, as she and most everyone else turned to face the door with longing. "There probably isn't going to be any other way."

"Nya!" cried Nyaasu suddenly.

Musashi glanced down idly. "What's your problem?" she demanded.

"What about me, nya?"

"What about you?" asked Neamon.

"Yeah, what _about_ you?" snapped Musashi.

Before Nyaasu could say, however, a koromon suddenly shouted from behind him.

"Wait, wait!" he cried, bouncing up and down excitedly. He pointed with his ears and almost fell over in his final leap into the air. "Whoa!" He quickly steadied himself. "What about the vent!

"Vent?!" Musashi cried.

Everyone instantly ran to investigate what the koromon was talking about.

"Shhhh, be quiet," whispered a koromon.

"I don't think we could all fit through here," said Tailmon.

"I don't think any of us could," said Agumon with a sigh, "Even if we did blast open the grate."

"Lickitongue's tongue could, nya," said Nyaasu.

Musashi glanced down at the pokémon completely not amused.

"And what good would that do?" she demanded.

Nyaasu shrugged.

"I might be able to fit if I suck it in good enough," offered Neamon; though, he sounded rather doubtful even as he attempted to hold his breath to see just how slim he could make himself.

"Wait a minute!" Musashi exclaimed so suddenly that everyone had to stop and look at her, blinking wide-eyed.

"What?" asked the koromon. "What?" "What is it, Musashi-san?" "Tell us!"

With a sly grin slowly gaining strength upon her face, Musashi lifted a finger to her chin and tapped thoughtfully.

"Lickitongue could snatch the key."

"If the guard comes by ever again, nya," Nyaasu muttered.

"Oh stop being such a sourpuss! Eh … no pun intended." Musashi turned away haughtily and made for the door.

With a raised brow, Tailmon turned to Nyaasu curiously

"Who's Lickitongue?" she whispered.

"Her pokémon," Nyaasu whispered back.

Musashi looked to her left, and then she looked to her right up and down the dungeon corridor. No one seemed to be around at the moment, but she would be patient. She would not move from the door until somebody came by.

#

They waited and waited and waited, but nobody appeared. Nobody for quite some time. Musashi was falling asleep, and everyone else had long ago. She tried to push Kojiro from her mind. She could not bear to think of him just now.

Where could he be? What was he doing? Was he hurt? Was he okay? Maybe he had found other friendly digimon. She would have liked to think so. Since she could not stop her mind from thinking about him, the least she could do was be optimistic. Kojiro could take care of himself, couldn't he? He wasn't a complete idiot, was he? Oh, she wished he was not such an idiot! Now he had her practically pulling her hair with worry. She found herself worrying far more about him than about the coming guard.

Her mind transformed into a whirlpool of thoughts and possibilities about what had befallen her partner.

More than her partner.

Her friend.

She did not call him that often, but she knew that she could really not deny it. What was the point now of denying it anyway? In this world, there really would be no one to impress. They weren't Team Rocket, they were just humans here. Just humans. Whatever that truly meant to the digimon, she still did not quite understand. Why they loved humans or hated them. Maybe it had been so long since humans had come to this world that they became the thing of legend to these creatures who no longer had the masters they had once had. Pokémon, she supposed, probably would get the same way, if an entire group of them had been born from the pokémon of loving trainers.

Maybe …

Maybe they would just go back to being wild, though.

Okay, so that didn't work out quite so well.

Well, she didn't know then. Come to think of it, she really did not care either.

Hey, she had stopped thinking about Kojiro!

Except now that she thought it, he returned to her mind again.

Musashi let out a low growl and smacked her forehead, waking from her semi-consciousness, but her disgust was cut short as she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps.

Looking up, she saw one of the bug-like digimon, the gokimon, approaching with a tiny, a strange grass pokémon like creature with a flower on her head in tow. But more than the angry, hurt digimon, Musashi took extreme note of the dangling of the keys at the guard's belt.

Her eyes widened as he lifted up those keys before a cell. He opened the cell door, and shoved the pink ball of a creature inside. Musashi's tongue slid out the side of her mouth as she watched with sweaty palms the guard return those keys to his belt.

"What are you doing?" a voice whispered from behind.

Musashi turned and glared down at Tailmon.

"Sh-h-h-h-h-h," she hissed, and taking her pokéball, she released Lickitongue.

Of course, she had not anticipated that Lickitongue would be happy to be released after being so long in the ball. Musashi did not stop to think that in his pleasure and ignorance of the situation, he would let out a loud sound that would arouse the guard. She certainly did not consider that if she tried to silence him, she would in the process cause more attention to be drawn to their cell. The guard might not have noticed anything if she had not been shushing Lickitongue, grabbing the confused creature back from the cell door, and causing Lickitongue to let out another cry, this time of surprise!

Oh, but now the guard approached the cell with all curiosity, and Tailmon with a determined glint in her eye that Musashi noticed out of the corner of her own eyes, looked ready to defend her friends. Perhaps it was pride, but Musashi was not about to let her plan fail just yet, especially if it meant Tailmon showing her up … again!

"Lick! On that ugly bug thing!" Musashi snarled.

"Licki!" Lickitongue exclaimed, and obeyed the command.

Tailmon let out a cry of surprise, as the great pink bulk that was Lickitongue lunged for the cell door and stuck out his tongue to lick the guard with the attack commanded of him. The guard instantly became stunned, and Musashi could not help but squeal a loud, "Yatta!" She snatched Lickitongue by the neck and had a mind to kiss him right then.

"Liiii ?" exclaimed the pleased but still rather befuddled Lickitongue.

"Grab the key, nya! Grab the key!"

"Huh?" Musashi turned around back into the cell.

Well, of course everyone had woken up by this time, but before Musashi could take Nyaasu's advice, Agumon and Tailmon had reached through the bars and had grabbed the key, and they quickly lifted it to the lock. The door soon swung open.

Nyaasu forced himself to stifle his giggle, and Musashi too felt giddy from their triumph! But they were not quite safe yet.

She returned Lickitongue, and hurried after Tailmon and Agumon, and before they got too far Agumon pushed the key into the next cell.

"We can't free them all!" Musashi protested.

"Yes, we can!" exclaimed Agumon. "We have to!"

Musashi rolled her eyes. "But we'll get caught!"

"Quiet," hissed Tailmon, "and will you stop worrying about yourself and remember that you're not the only one that matters."

"Hm!" Musashi snorted, and turned to Nyaasu. "Can you believe her?"

Nyaasu shrugged blankly in return and shook his head. "Nya."

"Well, you're a lot of help," Musashi muttered.

One by one the cells were opened and one by one the prisoners were freed. Musashi reluctantly followed. If it had not been for the fact that she needed these creatures to help her through this insane world and to help her find Kojiro, she would have snatched Nyaasu up and left right then and there and forgotten the whole business. They were going to get caught! This was so stupid! At least after about the seventh or so cell, Tailmon finally decided that the koromon should take Musashi out.

"I'll stay with you, nya!" Nyaasu suddenly offered.

Musashi threw him a leer.

"What?!" she demanded.

But thankfully Tailmon shook her head. "You stay with your human."

Nyaasu looked disappointed but did as Tailmon said in following the koromon and a new digimon named Palmon out a back way she happened to know of.

"Wow!" said Palmon turning to Musashi as she began leading the way out. "It's been so long since I seen a human. You're very pretty."

Musashi could only sigh and feel grumpy.

"Hurry, Palmon!" Agumon shouted. "I think someone's coming, and they don't have their digimon!"

"No!" snapped Musashi, and roughly shoved away even though Neamon did try to stop her. "I can take care of myself!" She tossed her head up defiantly.

"Oh!" cried Neamon, quite impressed.

"I have pokémon!" Musashi went on. "I don't need digimon! And I can handle some stupid bugs!"

"I don't know, Musashi, nya …" murmured Nyaasu from behind.

"Oh, shut up, Nyaasu!" Musashi snapped, and she readied her pokéball.

The guards were coming just around the corner.


	16. The Sold Salvaged

JMJ

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

The Sold Salvaged

_Okay, a little random, nya._

_But why do pokémon glue themselves to Kojiro's head? Well, one could argue it to be because they love him, and in Victreebel's case I suppose it's true, but from experience (and from a chance conversation with Chimecho before he left) it's the hair gel. No, seriously. It smells and tastes all fruity and sweet, and, and … What? It's not like anyone would dare go near Musashi's hair, nya!_

#

Hundreds of them swarmed the halls, maybe more! Those disgusting gokimon! Every which way. On the walls, on the ceiling, around every peep hole.

With a shrieking "_nya_!", Nyaasu grabbed onto Musashi in his shock, having no Kojiro's head to grab. Normally Musashi would have thrown Nyaasu off her, but she seemed far to intent on the bugs. Although she too was shocked at first, she soon recovered with full determination, throwing out Arbok amidst the other prisoners already a chaotic mess (some of them fighting, some of them fleeing for their lives).

It proved difficult to fight properly, but she ordered a severe poison sting on the gokimon, to which Arbok tried to obey with a theatrical lunge to match his master's command. He found flair difficult too without running into anyone so that he soon just made for being as direct as possible.

A few gokimon were downed by the sting, but there were more to take their place.

Determined not to be tossed about anymore, Musashi felt herself downright on fire. She would not be daunted by the numbers. It was not long before she had both her pokémon out, and she fought the harder. As a couple gokimon managed to near her enough, she even got into the action herself, tugging hard onto the antennae of those stupid things.

Suddenly in between gokimon, Palmon interrupted from behind. Really Musashi had not been fighting for very long.

"Uh, excuse me."

Nyaasu looked down from where he clung to Musashi's waist, and Musashi, who apparently only noticed her new unorthodox belt just now, pried Nyaasu off. He landed neatly on his feet just in front of Palmon.

"The window back there just broke, and I can let you down if you want," Palmon said, but she hesitated, twiddling her strange vine-like fingers. "I mean. I understand if you want to stay here and help, but Tailmon said—"

"Tailmon said!" fumed Musashi, and she turned back to where Arbok was strangling a pair of gokimon together. "Arbok!" But before she could finish her command, an especially large escapee thundered towards him, and of course, he ran right into Arbok with a hefty arm and sent him flying through the corridor and, of course, Arbok had to hit Lickitongue whose heavy bulk ran right into Musashi and Nyaasu, and of course both slammed right through the open window, which Palmon tried to tell them about. Lickitongue and Arbok came too.

"AHHHHH!"

Fortunately, they had not really flown quite to the extent of a good old falling into the sky with a clever twinkle, but they did not have to. The dungeon apparently had been quite high up on the side of a cliff, and the narrow strip of river glowed ominously below with the rising of the sun. This scene was where they paused briefly in mid air just so that they could take in the full view.

"Does this count as '_yana kanji_'?" asked Nyaasu.

Musashi tried to grab Nyaasu and strangle him, but Nyaasu hid behind Arbok just in time.

"Nyah!" the cat cried.

Either way, Musashi and the pokémon they fell. Down, down, down, and … _ker-SPLASH_!

Well, at least they landed in the river.

#

The tanemon village was just like the koromon village, except greener, and it possessed one large hall in the center of the village, which had more than one chamber. One of these was furnished for Musashi and Nyaasu's needs. This involved a mat, pillow, and a blanket for Musashi and a little hammock for Nyaasu. The only other features were a table and the wide, round window looking out through a pair of huts and beyond a few draping trees. Everything else had been moved, it could safely be assumed, to other areas of the hall.

"I hate this place," moaned Musashi, slamming her head into her arms.

Nyaasu, lying in his hammock, held his arms behind his head. He swung one leg over the side of and rocked gently, careful not to irritate his heavy skull, which still pounded now and then from the fall. His tail, now wrapped in bandages (also from the fall), also had to be treated with care.

"Hey, Musashi, at least we escaped from the castle place, nya," Nyaasu offered, but he did not sound as enthusiastic as he had meant to sound.

Musashi lifted her head and glared sulkily out of the window out through the trees and out into the jungle just over the grass hill where the village was situated.

"I _hate_ this place!" she said again.

"Nya …"

"And we still haven't found Kojiro!" sobbed Musashi.

Nothing encouraging came to Nyaasu, and he really did try to think of something. He bit his lip and tried not to think of the possibilities of what could befall Kojiro. Tailmon had never been quite clear about what the viruses actually would do. They would do worse things than kill him, if they had the chance. He remembered her saying something of the sort. But what did that mean? Did he really want to know?

"And no!" said Musashi suddenly.

"'No' what?" Nyaasu asked scrunching his face a little as he glared up at the ceiling.

"No, it didn't count as _yana kanji_," Musashi sulked, but she still refused to look at Nyaasu.

Though, he raised a brow, Nyaasu had nothing to respond to that, and would have entirely ignored her afterwards if she had not gone on to explain, "Kojiro wasn't with us."

An unpleasant tingle crawled up Nyaasu's spine, and he cringed in spite of himself. He sat up and looked at Musashi. She still sat at the window, her arms on one knee while the other trailed off the ledge she sat on. Looking out, she seemed to be watching something like a ship over the ocean that still had miles and miles to reach shore, but she refused to take her eyes off it for a moment.

Such a forlorn expression rarely had captured Musashi's stubborn face. It made Nyaasu feel the loss of Kojiro with a double force to see her like that. For a moment it was almost as if it would be hopeless to think they could ever find him, and Nyaasu found himself lowering his head down to his hind paws, where he wriggled his toes slightly before scratched at an itch under one paw.

"Well," Nyaasu said, closing his eyes with a frown. "It's not as if he'd really miss getting smashed through a half broken wall and falling two hundred feet into a crevasse, nya."

Maybe he just needed to change the mood, but he somehow felt disappointed that Musashi had not flashed her blue eyes at him with an irate leer or march up to him and push him off his hammock even. She hardly graced his comment with a sniff. She just continued staring as miserably as ever before the window.

His ears drew back slightly, and Nyaasu closed his eyes once again, flopping back down into the hammock in, at least momentary, defeat.

#

Through one of the many fields that spotted the jungles beyond the Ashen Kingdom, Agumon and Tailmon searched together for any sign of Kojiro, but at length decided to take a rest under the shade of a tree.

Tailmon knew they would have to leave the comfort of the village soon, for it had to be admitted that no one in the immediate area knew what had happened to the human, Kojiro. To think that she worried this for her own sake would mean not knowing Tailmon, but she did worry a little about Musashi and Nyaasu, but more Muasashi than Nyaasu. If Tailmon went off further to look for Kojiro, leaving Musashi in the hands of the tanemon and the koromon, there was no telling what would eventually happen with that uncontrollable temper, but she was not all too eager to bring her with anymore either. Musashi was not a good travel companion for one, and Tailmon wanted to keep Musashi as safe from virus sight as possible. Bringing her along would not be wise in that regard, and to think of that human in the hands of the manipulative viruses brought chills to even Tailmon's spine.

"Hey," said Agumon, suddenly breaking Tailmon from her thoughts.

"Hmm?" Shooting up her head, Tailmon faced her companion.

"Those look like the same balls that Musashi has," Agumon said.

"Where?" demanded Tailmon, looking around.

Agumon pointed to a wandering digimon poking at the red and white balls in his possession as if trying to figure them out.

Tailmon motioned for Agumon to follow.

#

All was dark, quiet and peaceful inside her cozy little ball. It had been a while since she had been released, but sometimes that happened. Maybe things were pretty calm, and pokémon battles were not necessary. She would just wait patiently. And she waited and waited, as she had been for some time. She thought for sure her ball had been handled quite a lot recently, but maybe they were doing inventory or something.

Suddenly, she heard the click of the button on her ball, which sounded like a omni-theathre dome pulling up after the movie, from inside the little ball, and in a flash of sci-fi light she leapt out full-sized and eager for the world as she let out a deafening screech.

_HELLO WORLD!_

Many little creatures instantly darted away and hid behind the numerous huts, trees, and shrubs, but she did not care in the least about that.

"Oh, why'd you have to let _her_ out, nya?" Nyaasu complained.

_Silly, Nyaasu_.

_Oh, yeah, it was time for a master glomp!_

She leapt for whom she took to be her master, without caring to take a good look first.

_Oh, master, master, MASTER_! she exclaimed merrily in the form of wild screams. _How are you, Master? I love you, Master! Are you happier than last time, Master? Did you miss me, Master? MASTER, MASTER, MASTER!?_

Only muffled screams came as a response, and Victreebel suddenly noticed how very full of long, thick hair Kojiro had suddenly become. Not to mention that it did not taste at all the same as it should have.

"That's not Kojiro, nya!"

_What?_

"GET OFF!" cried Musashi.

Leaping off of Musashi, soggy, moaning and rubbing her forehead, Victreebel tried to apologize, but she did not have time to say much as she turned to look for Kojiro. What a silly mistake she had made.

"Crazy, stupid thing!" growled Musashi.

Victreebel turned one way, then another, and it finally dawned on her that Kojiro was nowhere in sight. He wasn't behind the huts. He wasn't in the bushes or the reeds either. The sky would not drop Kojiro in front of her as she gazed longingly at the slowly moving clouds. Kojiro was really gone!

Throwing her head back, she let out a mournful, spine-chilling scream with tears streaming down her face.

"Oh, come on," said Nyaasu with a heavy sigh, and he lifted a supportive paw. "Don't cry, nya."

But instead of listening to Nyaasu, Victreebel decided it better to run around in circles in panic. Nyaasu didn't understand! Maybe her master would hear her, where ever he was, and would come to see what was happening. She flailed her leaves and threw round her vines, and screamed even louder than before, but Kojiro did not appear.

The tanemon and koromon continued hiding, shivering and daring not to speak. The other digimon stared in confusion with wide, blank eyes, but Musashi and Nyaasu looked at each other and shook their heads in disgust.

"This is his pokémon?" asked Tailmon of Nyaasu.

"N-yeah, that's his," Nyaasu replied with a simple nod of his head.


	17. Love and Truth

JMJ

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

Love and Truth

Dream and reality slipped in and out indistinguishably. Sometimes Kojiro felt he was in a dark, drab room. A Victorian shambling place of something akin to Miss Havisham's time-stopped misery or maybe the House of Usher. He had always despised _Great Expectations_ with such vehemence (Oh, that poor Pip! And he actually had a chance to be with Biddy but gave it up for Rumika in Victorian literary format! Ug! How could anyone write a book report about that horror?) and had been caught once letting the particular copy in his parents' house fall behind the bookshelf. Gasp! What a naught child! What this place reminded Kojiro of the most, however, he could not bear to think, because it really reminded Kojiro of his own house, his old life in the complete and utter shambles that it was in the figurative horror it had become. Maybe somehow this room was made to look like this. Limomon's hypnotic aura did many strange things to the mind. At other times, the room in which he lay really happened to be a place in his own house. A bedroom, a closet, an attic. Someplace that could be locked and where he could hide, but he knew he could not remain in there forever, and his parents, the servants, or someone far worse would meet him on the other side of the door.

Sometimes it would be Rumika, sometimes it would be Limomon, and to be honest, he could not tell which he hated more. At least when it was Limomon, all the digimon did was check on him.

"Are we feeling better, Kojiro?" Limomon often asked.

But Kojiro only responded very minimally. He was sick all over inside and out. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually. Though, perhaps he had been sick in the latter two senses for far longer than he had realized before.

"Perhaps we tried too hard," Limomon muttered, his voice echoing as if through a barrier and that Kojiro was not on a moth eaten, stained brass-framed bed but in a science tube in floating liquid being monitored like the rare pokémon he and his teammates never caught nor brought to their notorious leader. "I suppose it was overkill. You were too weak to handle any of this, and now you will surely die, especially if we keep having to shove food down your throat to get you to eat anything." He smiled slightly. "It's always fun to bring out the little tube though." The smile then vanished. "Vamdemon is beginning to think that you were a waste of time and not worth the title of Kaiser …"

Kojiro was a loser. Beyond a loser, he was the most pathetic thing that ever dared to crawl the earth, and worst of all he knew it. Would it not have been better if he had not known? No, the thought of not knowing was simply unbearable.

"Give us that pikachu!" Team Rocket commanded.

"No, way!" cried a boy barely in the two-digit years of his life. "Pikachu, thunderbolt!"

"PIKACHUUUU!"

Pain, pain, pain, more pain. Pain that shook the frame, sizzled the senses, numbed everything but would be felt oh, so, so very keening in buzzing throbs after dark. Yet Kojiro felt this every day …

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

Landings were always fun.

…

"We're gunna take that Pikachu whether you like it or not!"

"Pikachu Thunderbolt!"

"PIKACHUUUU!"

How stubborn could a trio of robbers be?

KA-BOOM!

But Musashi, Kojiro, and Nyaasu could never be described as mere robbers. They were the ever undaunted Team Rocket. Never give in. Never surrender till the job was done!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

…

"Ha, ha! We're getting away with the baby stantler!"

"It's _ii kanji_ today!"

"Uh oh, nya!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

Never _ii kanji_ for long.

…

"Give us Pikachu or else!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

…

"We're taking this lapris, okay?!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

…

"We want that sushi, we're starving!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

"We're still hungry, and give us that pikachu!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

"Okay, just a rice ball or even a pokéblock, and sure, how 'bout that munchlax while we're at it. The boss might like him."

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

"Nya! Just think, the boss will have the best pokémon in all the—"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

"Team Rocker Forever …!"

"And Ever …!"

"Nyante, nya! Hee, hee! Till the day we die …!"

"KA-BOOM!"

"_Yana kanji_!"

"_Yana kanji_!"

"_Yana kanji_!"

"_YANA KANJI_!"

_You run away, abandon your parents — shameful! Why? You give up a life of stifling luxury and an arranged marriage with a maniac, sure, but for what?_

WAAAM!

"_Yana kanji_!"

ZAAAAP!

"_Yana kanji_!"

FOOOOSH!

"_Yana kanji_!"

"Society's sympathy …?"

"World peace under Team Rocket control …?"

"The evils of love and truth …?"

_To escape!_

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

"Why do you have to be such idiot, Kojiro? The plan, the plan, remember?!"

KA-BOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

_For freedom!_

_CONK!_

"Idiot!"

_SLASH!_

"Useless! No one respects you, nya!"

_No one telling me what to do!_

"_Yana kanji_!"

Ping!

"_Yana kanji_!"

Ping!

"_Yana kanji_!"

Ping!

"I'll come back and get you. Someday. I promise, Gar-chan. When I make something of myself I'll come back for you, but I just can't bear that something bad would happen before then."

"_Yana kanji_!"

"Stay here and help them. My parents need you more than I do."

"_Yana kanji_!"

_I suck. My whole life sucks. And I can never change it. Never! I'll have to spend the rest of my life …_

"It's your fault they're dead!"

"You're fault …"

_My fault …_

KAAAAA-BOOOOM!

"_Yana kanji …_!"

"_Yana kanji …_!"

"_Yana kanji … … … …_!"

Ping!

It would not be long before there was nothing left of Kojiro Niwa. It even grew to the point when even the stark images of Rumika did not arouse his mind to revulsion. He became numb. Numb from everything. His mind would take no more. All that still caused emotion, all that still reminded him of who he was, was the image of Musashi and Nyaasu dead on the ground. It was his fault that they died. Maybe it was his fault the trio always failed. Kojiro felt like curling up and withering away. Perhaps rage would come eventually as his torturers wanted. Perhaps it would not be long before the new Digimon Kaiser Kojiro would rise to power, but right now he just felt too miserable. He had not the strength to be angry. He hardly had the strength to be miserable anymore. He just wanted to rest, but even sleep did not provide him this need.

Then the ocean rose up in a deafening crack that broke the surface with the force of thunder.

#

… _Alone, he stood on his little island. Alone against the ocean storm as the waves rose higher and higher. Swallowing up what was left of the sand and pebbles, it lapping mockingly against his expensive shoes. A lot of good they were shined, and sparkling black against the savage spray of the sea, hot and red like a volcano was exploding just beneath his island. Steam plumed from pockets of putrid, frying air bubbling in between the waves._

_It would not be long now._

_He could not move. He was frozen. Even if a dozen rescue helicopters, boats, and submarines were out to help him, he would not have been able to reach out for them. The end was inevitable, no matter how he regretted it. No matter how scared he was. No matter what he thought, did, or said!_

_The water splashed up to his ankles now. Then it hit his knees. It moved up to his waist and up to his chest._

_It would not be long now._

_A massive, steaming wave rose up like the jaws of a beast, and it made a dive over Kojiro's head. Squeezing his eyes shut he braced himself. _

_He swirled beneath the waves into the sea, now more like a thick, hot soup. He held his breath, but as he struggled to reach the surface, he was weighed down by his clothes, his boots, his gloves — wait, had he not been wearing something other than his Team Rocket uniform before? Something he might have worn in the old days at home. Well, it did not really matter. He wore it now. Rather befitting for him to drown in it. He even had his gloves again, which he lost some time ago._

_Kojiro did not want to die. Not really. He did not want this to be the end! His lungs were burning, and he fought with all his might to keep from sucking in. He knew that the second he did, that would be the end of him. He would be no more. RIP, Kojiro Niwa, the biggest fool who ever lived._

_His eyes grew heavy. His head started to feel fuzzed with lack of oxygen. Mere seconds remained before the final beat of his heart would sound. The heat of the water was lulling him into a sickly sleep. He would suck in before long._

_The bubbles burned on his face, the underwater reeds began twisting around his legs, and the light of that volcano was blazing beneath him, red and sickly green._

_Then through the haze of soupy liquid, he thought for a second that he saw a hand outstretched toward him. The hand looked human, but the haze was so great he could not be sure. Besides his mind could not be trusted with good judgment anymore (if it ever had been)._

"_Hold on …" a voice echoed like a sweet breeze. "Hold on to me, and I'll pull you out. There will be no more time …"_

_Just as he opened his mouth to breathe in the soup he lunged for the hand with all the strength he had left, and the delicate hand with amazing strength pulled him out of the water._

_Choking and gagging and gasping crazily for breath, he shook with an uncontrollable convulsion as he knelt with his face to the ground._

_Kojiro was still on the ocean, and the storm still raged, but there was a strange calmness upon the rock on which he found himself. A light shone from a bright, clear white lantern, and all was as dry and still as a quiet summer evening at a lake cabin. _

_Dripping with hot water and sweat, he slowly lifted his head just as the hand that had rescued him now helped him to his feet. A cloak was wrapped around him to dry him off, and clutching the cloak tightly and stifling a last cough, he looked to see what person could possibly have rescued him._

_Instantly he was drawn to the pure, childlike face, which bespoke nothing but sincerity and warmth. She was unlike any person Kojiro had ever seen yet had the familiarity about her like an older sister or maybe more like a mother he had never had._

"_I'm sorry," he whispered, allowing a tear to fall from his eyes. "I'm sorry about everything …"_

_But her hand brushed away the tear._

"_You know what you have to do, don't you?" she said._

_Kojiro lowered his head sadly. "I have to escape," he answered._

_The girl smiled. It was a kind, dear smile with just a touch of sadness that made Kojiro wish he could say something to make her feel better, yet he knew it to be the girl who encouraged Kojiro, waking his heart. A weight lifted from his heart, and he had not realized just how heavy that weight had been until now._

#

"Kojiro?" asked an unfamiliar voice strangely close and earthbound. "Kojiro, can you hear me?"

Kojiro slowly opened his eyes.


	18. Kaiser Prevention

JMJ

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

Kaiser Prevention

Aeromon and Piyomon flew off one morning after reporting to Musashi-san. The human had been staying at the tanemon village now, which on the tanemons' insistence had become a sort of base in the search operations for Kojiro, the missing human. Musashi-san had been disappointed as to was to be expected, perhaps a little violent, but she must have been losing heart with the search going on for so long.

They had circled and viewed the area from the air where the birds were most needed. Piyomon looking one way and Aeromon looking the other way. They would separate often on leads which always met with dead ends, and both were becoming discouraged in their efforts.

"He's probably already been found by the viruses," said Aeromon upon meeting his partner on the side of a cliff. He shook his head sadly and shook his feathers a bit in the sudden breeze ruffling them.

"But we can't give up!" exclaimed Piyomon. "If the viruses have found him, we gotta try harder." She squeezed her eyes shut. "I wish Sora was here. She would know what to do!"

Aeromon patted Piyomon gently. "Hey, come on. We're not giving up yet. I'm just getting worried."

Piyomon sniffed and tried not to lose a tear that was squeezing out of her eye as she blinked up at Aeromon. "Me too."

His partner's thoughts were on Sora. He knew that look of longing. He knew that _feeling_ of longing. A digimon's human was his or her life, and although they had never met Kojiro, it felt as if it was Sora who was lost to Piyomon just as it felt for Aeromon, for he too had had a human friend once a long time ago …

"Come on," said Aeromon. "Let's try again."

"Okay, Aeromon," agreed Piyomon, and once again they set off in their separate directions.

Aeromon took flight over the Grey Desert again. With keen eyes he scanned the grey ground for any sign of color. He had been told that the missing human wore about the same design as Musashi-san: white, black, and red. His hair was said to be a bright bluish purplish color too. It should be easy enough to spot Kojiro on the colorless sand if he trudged the desert's sands.

Soaring over the cliffs of the Ashen Kingdom, Aeromon dove onto the other side of a ledge and into a valley of reeds. No one was about, but this lonely valley did not carry many digimon homes as the reeds had nothing edible to offer. It did offer shelter, however. If Kojiro wanted to hide, this would be a good place to do it. The valley provided shelter from both sides, and the reeds grew tall like corn stalks and would keep him well hidden, even from above.

Aeromon would try here. It was a little like eeny meeny myny moe. Kojiro could be anywhere, but Aeromon had to choose someplace.

Landing on an open stretch of ground, Aeromon listened for a sound, and right away he heard one in the form of a digimon inadvertently floating his way.

The reeds were not so vacant after all.

"Whoa, who are you?" asked the digimon, a budmon, shifting her leaf on which she floated back so as not to run into the other digimon.

"Aeromon," said Aeromon. "Please, I have to ask you … have you seen a human?"

The budmon stiffened in alarm, and backed up some more until she landed on the ground.

"Yes," she said. "I think I did. He was with a digimon known as Limomon. We don't like Limomon around here. I didn't get involved. I don't know anything about it."

"Limomon?" Aeromon had only heard of Limomon, but what he heard had not been good. As if he heard the vile digimon right then and then, Aeromon turned in a direction sharply, but nothing met his eyes save the swaying reeds. He turned to the budmon once more. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you, just tell me — where were they headed?" He could not help his excitement and impatience.

The budmon lowered her head.

"The Tower of Vamdemon was the last place I saw them headed."

Aeromon threw his head behind him in the direction he knew Vamdemon's Tower to be.

"No ..." he breathed, and he spun back around. He was going to say some word of parting, but he had not the time. He flew off in a moment. Beating his wings as hard as he could toward the tower. He hoped he was not too late. Oh, that he would not be too late.

Through valleys and across lagoons down into the dark and dismal land under the treacherous virus monster. For many long years Vamdemon had been slowly, terribly slowly, regaining his strength, but thus far had made no move upon innocent digimon. Aeromon knew only too well that with the human already disturbed even before stepping into the digital world if he proved to be anything like his partner, Vamdemon would create a servant in human form to do his awful bidding. Like what had happened to the human named Ken. Like what had almost happened to the human known as Yamato. What was failed miserably with the human known as Mimi. What had started it all with the human Aeromon knew before Taichi had stepped foot in the digital world. The first human the first viruses had ever tampered with, and now they would have Kojiro if Aeromon did not make it in time!

The tower came into view, and Aeromon felt his strength waning. He would be good for nothing in fighting even with his full strength in a fight, but Aeromon was determined to free Kojiro if it was the last thing he did.

And he almost flew right past him.

"What?" cried Aeromon, and halting in mid-flight, he dove back for the open window.

Spider web-like curtains wafting delicately into the miserable chamber as he landed, and there he saw the human huddled on a wretched bed.

Knees curled up under his chest and fingers clutching desperately at the covers beneath him, he laid his head on the mattress, for no pillow was there to put his head upon. Shaking with fear and looking completely wracked with pain though his body seemed to have no major injury aside from a nicely bandaged arm, he looked almost near death with skin as pale as the sheets upon which he lay and muscles in perpetual intensity. His eyes were only nearly closed, but Kojiro stared at nothing, and certainly did not see Aeromon as he bounded onto the floor, and stepped up to the bed.

"Kojiro?" he whispered.

Kojiro did not answer, but his eyes slowly closed.

Hopping onto the bed stand, Aeromon cleared his throat and tried again.

"Kojiro? Kojiro, Can you hear me?"

Eye lids fluttered with difficulty until Kojiro finally pried his eyes open. After a moment, his blank, jade-green eyes finally narrowed in upon Aeromon, and Kojiro glared.

"I've come to help you," said Aeromon.

"Sure you have," Kojiro croaked. "Just like you and everyone else." His voice sounded like dry gravel ripping under a shoe.

"No!" cried Aeromon, fluttering in protest as Kojiro tried to wrench a shaky hand forward and grab violently at the digimon. "No! Kojiro wait! Really. I've come to save you! We gotta escape before someone comes! I've come from your friends. Musashi and Nyaasu! Please, listen."

Kojiro stopped. His eyes widened for a few seconds as if he had suddenly seen a ghost, and he roughly turned away, shoving his head into the mattress.

"You're lying!" he sobbed, pulling his hands over his face. "Go away and leave me alone! All of you are all the same! You just want to make it worse! I'm a loser, a loser, a loser! It's my fault! I'm so stupid!"

"No, Kojiro," said Aeromon, quietly trying to sooth his distress. He rested his wing on Kojiro's back. "No, everyone's looking for you. We've been worried for weeks and weeks about you."

"But they're dead! They told me they were dead!" He swallowed strenuously before squeaking strangely out the names, "_Musashi … Nyaasu …_" He spoke with such strain that he coughed afterwards.

Aeromon shook his head. "They lied, Kojiro. I just saw Musashi, and they found your pokémon too. I forget their names." He smiled kindly. "But your friends are worried sick and will be glad to see you alright."

Carefully, as if afraid that Aeromon might suddenly turn from the seemingly innocent, beautiful blue bird into a ravenous buzzard ready to rip his face out, Kojiro peaked up from the mattress, hands now over the sides of his head and his knees tucked up underneath him. He seemed to grow a little confident as his eyes met Aeromon's, and he carefully pried himself from the mattress, pulling himself desperately along the chipped and stained brass-plated spokes of the headboard. For a moment then he just stared very hard at Aeromon as if unsure of his consciousness or still unsure if he understood Aeromon correctly. Tears then swelled up with a rough swing of his arm that inadvertently almost hit Aeromon; he covered his face, and letting out a wail, he started to cry bitterly.

"Kojiro …" said Aeromon, still remaining calm, and talking each syllable delicately as he spoke, "Kojiro, please. We have to leave. This isn't going to do any good."

"Leave where?" Kojiro sobbed in return. "I got no place to go! I might as well just stay here! I'm good for nothing else!"

"Kojiro!" gasped Aeromon. "Don't say things like that!"

"Why?" Kojiro sulked, his voice slowly gaining strength, or at least gaining volume, anyway, for he still sounded as strained and hollow as ever. "It's true! I suck. I've always sucked. I still suck. I always will … _suck_! And they're dead because of me!"

"Oh …" Aeromon sighed. Whatever they did to him, they did it well.

"Musashi … Nyaasu … I … I think I feel sick. I probably was better off marrying Rumika. I deserved Rumika … I deserve whatever I get …_Yana kanji_ …! U-u-u-a-a-a-a-g!" At this last bit Kojiro threw back his head as one writhing in pain.

They did not have time for this! Aeromon wished he could just pick him up off the bed and fly him back to the tanemon village, but he couldn't.

"Oh! I'd go get help, but I can't leave you here," he murmured as Kojiro slumped into his knees and buried his head with his arms with a loud, painful moan.

Aeromon winced.

He _dared_ not leave Kojiro here alone.

"Just go away and leave me alone," Kojiro whispered weakly, just barely enough to be heard especially between his knees.

Hopping onto the bed encouragingly, Aeromon opened his mouth to say more to get Kojiro to leave, but just as he started he heard something on the other side of the bedroom door. Instantly, Aeromon ducked under the bed, and hid behind an empty, wooden crate.

"Kojiro," hissed an oily voice as the door creaked open. There was a short pause before the door closed again.

Aeromon peeked out just barely enough to catch a glimpse of the feet, half monkey, half reptilian in appearance, of Limomon. Limomon was on a higher level than Aeromon; he would not stand a chance by himself against him, especially with the trademark "shadow leer" that Limomon possessed.

"How are we feeling today?" asked Limomon in a way that was almost gentle, which made the sinister tone in the back of his voice sound all the more bone-chilling. The shiver that ran up Aeromon's spine could not be helped in the least and was in fact more than warranted.

Kojiro did not reply at first, but Aeromon could hear him drop careless backwards onto the bed, shaking the frame around Aeromon.

"Go away," Kojiro moaned.

"And … what if I don't want to?" asked Limomon testily, but the smirk was unmistakable, even with being unable to see it.

Kojiro growled, near animal like. "I said …" he hissed. "Go _away_! I don't want to see your ugly face _anymore_!"

The bed shook again violently.

In return Limomon only let out a cackle. "Ah, wonderful, Kojiro! Wonderful! I can't wait to tell everyone the good news. You _are_ feeling better."

"GO AWAY!" screamed Kojiro so hoarsely, his voice cracked and squealed. "I … I hate you! All of you! All of you! Go away and leave me alone! NOW!"

Another violent shake of the bed, which seemed to Aeromon to indicate the human's standing upright on the bed, and something smashed onto the ground just barely missing Limomon.

"Or what?" asked Limomon as if he had not noticed. "What, Kojiro? Vengeance? Destruction? Misery? To make the world pay for what it's done to you, Kojiro?" He paused with a slight chuckle. "Oh, master Kaiser Kojiro?"

NO! No! No! This was what Limomon wanted. This was why he was here! No! Kojiro, don't! Don't listen. Aeromon would watch the fall of this human's soul along with the rest of the Digital World right before his eyes.

The entire room seemed to hold its breath as it waited for Kojiro's answer, which was a good three minutes in counting.

"_Ye-e-e-es_!" Kojiro screeched.

Aeromon could stand it not one second longer.

"No!" he yelled, and dove out from under the bed.

In his surprise, Limomon could not be ready for Aeromon's dive-bomb attack on his head with just enough effort to knock him off his feet. As quick as lightning, Aeromon knocked a heavy table over onto his head. It broke in half but Limomon was unconscious. His tongue stuck out from under the debris, and his eyes were completely X-ed out.

Aeromon turned to Kojiro, who himself seemed as if frozen in time as he stood motionless on the bed.

"Come on!" Aeromon begged. "Let's get out of here! Kojiro _please_!"

At first Kojiro looked about to strangle Aeromon as his eyes slowly glazed over with rage, and his shoulders tensed up along his neck just as he knees bent just enough to ready himself for an insane leap, but his eyes then fell upon the unconscious Limomon. Something stirred in his mind, Aeromon could not guess what, and after another blank moment, Kojiro closed his eyes. When he opened them, they fell wearily onto Aeromon.

"I'm tired," he said.

He hopped off the bed and continued to look at Aeromon miserably.

"I know," said Aeromon and closed his eyes briefly too before he straightened with resolute cause. "Now come on, Kojiro. We have to go."

Kojiro nodded and then bit his lip worriedly.

"But how?"

"Out the window," said Aeromon, and he began ripping the ragged quilt off the bed in his beak, before adding, muffled with his mouth full, "Come on, we'll tie these together!"

"But you can't tie," Kojiro pointed out, and pulling off the blanket and soon the sheets as well, he piled them onto the floor with Aeromon's quilt.

"Then you tie them," Aeromon said even though Kojiro had already begun to do just that.

Once everything was knotted tightly together, Aeromon, again urged haste. Kojiro piled his rope out the window. It almost fell out but Aeromon flew out the window in a swoop and caught it so that Kojiro could tie the rope to the bed.

Then taking a deep breath, Kojiro began to climb down. It was still a bit of a drop from the end of the rope to the ground, but Aeromon knew that was not why Kojiro had stopped just before the drop.

He looked up at the sky, his eyes clouding over in deep thought, and then he lowered his eyes shut and moaned as he hugged tightly the rope.

With a shake of his head, Aeromon flew down to him, and when he was level with Kojiro, he hovered there to say, "Kojiro, just let go. You'll be fine. I know you feel bad, but you have to just force yourself, Kojiro. Force yourself until we get to safety."

Opening his eyes again, Kojiro, opened his mouth to say something in protest, but just as he began, there was a snap. The rope was made out of old sheets half-falling apart, after all, and it was amazing they had held up as well as they had.

"Ack!" Kojiro cried and fell to the ground with a pile of bed covers plopping on top of him.

In an instantly, he threw up his head out of the pile. He was now awakened from his stupor, and throwing one last look at the window from which he had just come from, he leapt to his feet and ran.

"Kojiro!" Aeromon cried in surprise, and flew after him.

Kojiro ran and ran as hard as he could, but at least he ran in relatively the right direction unwittingly. Aeromon watched from above, and occasionally looked back at the tower. Every moment, he feared that Limomon or something far worse would suddenly emerge, but for now, they were safe. Perhaps the rumors that Vamdemon's former strength still lacked had been true. Perhaps he did not know of their escape and they would make it to the Tanemon village without anyone knowing.

Oh! Aeromon could only hope!

It took surprisingly long for Kojiro to finally stop. He had used up every last once of strength in his run, and without warning, he dropped like a stone onto the ground almost as if he had been shot.

Aeromon gasped, afraid that perhaps the human had pushed himself too far and had dehydrated or something. He swooped down, and landed beside him.

"Kojiro?" he said, and nearing him, he nudged his shoulder with his beak. "Are you alright?"

He could not even see his face beneath his bluish hair, but he was breathing heavily as his body tried to recover from the outburst.

Aeromon cocked his head, and leaned in a little closer to Kojiro's head until he could see a tiny bit of twinkle that came from his half closed eyes.

"Kojiro?" he asked.

Those eyes opened and blinked up to Aeromon, but otherwise he remained unmoved.

"I … I just want to rest here a while," Kojiro breathed.

Aeromon looked around. They were right in plain sight. It would be unwise to wait here, but not too far away stood the cover of shrubbery.

"Can you make it over there?" asked Aeromon, pointing his beak towards the bushes.

Lifting his head Kojiro followed the beak, and swallowing hard, he said, "No."

"Oh, come on, Kojiro. I can't carry you!" said Aeromon. "Just over there. It's hardly five feet away."

With a mournful moan, Kojiro pulled his arms out from under him, and pulled on the grass as if that would help him reach his destination better.

"Come on, Kojiro," Aeromon urged. "You can do it. You made it this far."

Kojiro squeezed his eyes shut but forced his body to obey the command of motion. He made it to his knees; then crawled miserably into the bushes, where he again collapsed onto his side and curled up into a ball.

"Okay," said Aeromon, who had hopped along the way every inch with him. "We made it. Now just rest. You'll be okay now. You'll be okay."

Kojiro did not answer but closed his eyes and continued to breathe heavily until he could rest his lungs enough to sleep, which he did within moments of hiding back behind the greenery.


	19. End of the Hunt

CHAPTER NINETEEN:

END OF THE HUNT

Piyomon soared into the tanemon village and landed hastily so that she almost tripped over herself as her feet touched the ground. Stumbling a little, she let out a small cry before she steadied herself again.

Tailmon who had been resting under a tree, threw up her head, and upon seeing who had come, leapt up instantly and ran to Piyomon's side.

"What?" she demanded, clenching her paws out in front of her. "What is it?"

"They're on their way!" exclaimed Piyomon, a smile like sunshine spilling out over her face.

"Who's on their way?" cried Tailmon; for a second she dared not give her hopes up.

The nearby koromon and tanemon quickly drew up as well.

"Aeromon and Kojiro are!" Piyomon said.

Suddenly, Musashi pushed her way out onto the scene from where she had been eating in what was called the "town square" (just a little low table outside the hall). She clasped her hands together and in a frantic leap, she dropped to the ground to be level with the messenger who involuntarily stepped back just a little in surprise.

"Kojiro!" cried Musashi. "He's coming!? Here!? Where is he now!? Is he okay!? Don't just stand there, c'mon, please!" She begged. "_Tell_ me!"

While she spoke, Nyaasu crept out from in front of the hall as well and peered around the corner only to meet the eyes of Tailmon. He wiped the rice from his face with the back of his paw and licked what was left. Twiddling his fingers a little, he turned away and scurried, yes, scurried, almost rodent-like in fact, across the ground to Musashi's side. Here he turned his attention solely on what Piyomon had to say until Musashi abruptly snatched him off the ground and began to squeeze in her anticipation on hearing of this turn of events.

"Musashi, nya!" Nyaasu squeaked, pushing against her with his hind paws and prying space between his little crushed rib cage and hers with his forepaws. "Musashi! Lemme go, _nya_!" She seemed to be squeezing harder. "_N-y-a-h!"_

Piyomon, of course aware of the situation being directly in front of the pair, lifted a wing to raise the subject and put it to questioning, but Musashi again insisted that she answer her questions instead.

"I can't take it anymore!" she screamed.

"Well," said Piyomon hesitantly, and she smiled as optimistically as she could, all the while watching Nyaasu's plight. "Aeromon's bringing him here. He seems pretty okay from what I saw, but he's been with Vamdemon for a long time and … is Nyaasu okay, Musashi? I think he's turning blue."

"Huh?"

Wide-eyed, Musashi looked down, and the pokémon was indeed starting to turn a strange color around the cheeks. It looked more like purple than blue, but the basic concept was understood. Musashi instantly dropped him.

As Nyaasu hit the ground, he let out a huge gasp and sucked in violently with a lolling tongue.

"Vamdemon!" cried Tailmon, and she was echoed quickly by Agumon, Neamon, and Palmon who were then echoed by the tanemon and the koromon.

Piyomon lowered her head briefly, regrettably and soulfully, but she soon lifted her face encouragingly. "But he's okay now …"

"Nya? Nya? What's going on, who's that, nya?" Nyaasu again leapt into the scene, completely recovered and now throwing his head round at the company.

"A very, very mean virus bad guy," Neamon assured Nyaasu with a grave nod.

"He's terrible!" cried Palmon.

"We had to fight him more than once!" added Agumon.

Swiveling to Agumon, Palmon gasped "Do you think he'll come after us?" She lowered her head. "I wish Mimi was here …"

"Me too," said Agumon. "I wish Taichi …"

"But they're not!" Tailmon snapped.

With resoluteness, the white cat took hold of the spotlight and faced the company.

"None of the children are here. This isn't their fight. It was never meant to be their fight, and whether the two humans we have now are meant to be here or not, they are who we have now, and we have to deal with it." Her head drooped briefly, but she was not down for long. "I miss Hikari too. I miss her with all my heart, but wishing her here won't help anything. Vamdemon still has not reached his full power, or he probably would have made things worse for the rest of us already, and Kojiro certainly would not have escaped—"

"Unless something strange happened to Kojiro," started Neamon, "and he'll come back as a … what's that called? A Tuppence Horse or something."

Musashi glared. "Do you mean Trojan horse?" she muttered.

Neamon scratched his head and brightened a little. "Yeah, that's it!"

"And what's all this mean?" Musashi wanted to know; though she hardly left five seconds' space for someone to reply before she lost patience yet again. "WHAT HAPPENED TO KOJIRO!?_WHAT'S GOING ON HERE_!?" Musashi finished her question at the very top of her lungs so that everyone had to close their ears by the end.

Neamon spun dizzily, holding the sides of his head from the blast of voice. "Whoa," he murmured.

With eyelids closing ever so carefully, Tailmon wrapped her paws behind her and faced Musashi.

"Musashi, could you please not lose your head? Please."

Musashi only growled as an answer.

"You can sure scream," moaned Agumon.

"Yeah," Palmon agreed, still squinting.

Nyaasu rolled his eyes. "Tell me about it, nya."

"WHAT?!"

Everyone moaned.

"Musashi, please!" Tailmon begged. "We can't make any decisions about Kojiro until we see him. We don't know how long he was there, do we?"

Piyomon shrugged. "Sorry, Aeromon didn't say."

"But is Kojiro alright?" Musashi demanded. "Will he come soon?"

"Yes," said Piyomon with nod, "but he is pretty worn out … Musashi-san?"

Before Piyomon had even begun to answer Musashi's questions, Musashi already took her leave.

"Musashi?" called Agumon. "Wait!"

He began to run after her but had hardly gone two steps when Tailmon snatched his arm. Looking curiously at Tailmon, Agumon tried to argue, but Tailmon shook her head, her eyes firm.

"Shouldn't we at least keep an eye on her, though?" Agumon asked as Tailmon released her hold.

Tailmon turned to Nyaasu, and Nyaasu shrunk into the grass as if suddenly put on the spot …

Musashi ran to the edge of the village, and pushed through the greenery, trigs and vines snapping as she went, and a branch at least once lashed out at her face, but she ignored it. She did not go far, however, but stopped shortly at a sudden drop into a lush, jungle valley.

Some bird digimon dove through the air and there was an insect like hiss coming from somewhere down the nearest slope, but otherwise the scene was completely still in its humid haze.

Behind her, Nyaasu slunk hesitantly, and he stared up at Musashi's rigid form looking out over the landscape.

He knew what passed through her mind.

She thought of running down there. She thought of looking for him right away. She almost took a step towards this goal, but she stopped just as she began lifting her foot. As much as she hated to admit it, she had to keep calm. Anything rash like running down into the valley without knowing the least idea where Kojiro really was would result in taking even longer in seeing Kojiro. Musashi may have been short tempered and perhaps on the verge of being spazzy, especially recently (_well, actually, come to think of it …nya_), but she was no idiot no matter how it seemed sometimes.

As Musashi slumped her head down in momentary defeat, Nyaasu dared a step closer. Straitening himself, he cleared his throat.

"Musashi, nya?"

Musashi reacted slightly, but she refused to turn to Nyaasu.

That was okay, Nyaasu understood. She was proud. Too proud for her own good, but Nyaasu really could not point the finger. She did not want Nyaasu to see her face as distraught as it no doubt was. He could relate.

"It won't be long, nya," Nyaasu offered helpfully.

"Yes," Musashi murmured, "and then we can find our way home …"

"Nya …" said Nyaasu. "Hopefully."

But he could not help the feeling that even if they had Kojiro all well and good, they would hardly be out of the woods in more ways than one.

#

Musashi and Nyaasu were sound asleep when the commotion started outside. With a loud moan, Musashi stuffed her pillow over her head, and longed for further sleep, but Nyaasu, whose ears were more keen than hers, shot up so fast he caused his hammock to lurch forward quite high.

"Kojiro?"

With a yelp as the hammock swung back the way it had come, Nyaasu fell to the ground in a heap, but was up within milliseconds and dashing for the door.

With another loud moan, Musashi peeked out from under her pillow hair which now covered her face from a restless night.

"Whu …?" she croaked groggily.

Her eyes began closing again, but just as dreamland tugged for control of her mind once again, what Nyaasu had said finally registered in her mind. In her start she threw the covers off and the pillow flung clear across the room as she tossed it in her blind thrill and strange terror that caused her heart to leap from her body for a beat.

"Kojiro's here?!" she gasped.

Wrenching herself from the mat, she forgot completely about her boots and gloves, which she now tripped over in her stocking feet.

"Ack!" she cried but caught herself on the wall behind her mat before falling completely over.

Pausing as she straitened herself, she looked through the window. All the voices were coming from the other side of the building, and all that met her eyes was the softly dewed houses, flowers, trees, and fields beyond.

She dashed for the door in a similar fashion as Nyaasu had.

On Kojiro's shoulders, Nyaasu stood squeezing around the top of his head with all his might in giddy glee, and Kojiro smiled and laughed slightly in spite of himself as tried to pry Nyaasu around to hug him back.

"Kojiro!" she screamed, again almost tripping as she leapt out of the hall.

Kojiro.

Yes, Kojiro!

He stood, flesh and blood, as solid as she had ever seen him. Although his gloves were missing and the rest of his uniform was in a rather tattered state, not to mention slightly yellowed, his hair was greasy and messy, and the dark lines under his swollen eyes were a tad unnerving, he had the same blank expression he always had. That same stupid, oxymoronically lovable look of Kojiro after a rough time out.

Nyaasu dropped to the ground, and as far as she was concerned he disappeared from view.

She felt as one in a dream as she slowly stepped over the wet grass, her socks soaking fast, and her head beginning to float dizzily. Her ears blocked out all else of the excitement of the other digimon: the explanations of Aeromon, the gleeful squees of the koromon and singing of the tanemon, and especially the serious tones of Tailmon. As she neared Kojiro, his eyes grew larger and larger until they seemed liable to pop right out of his head when she finally stopped about two feet in front of her long lost partner and friend.

"_Musashi_," Kojiro said. He barely breathed it. Tears welled up in his eyes, and his face cracked into the sickest, goofiest, goggled-eyes grin Musashi had ever seen.

Musashi frowned, her body tensing uncontrollable so that she shook, and her face burned to the color of her hair as hot tears began building in her own eyes.

"Oh, Kojiro," she managed to say through the great lump in her throat.

Blinking away huge gobs of tears, Kojiro with fists clenched at his sides gulped strangely and sniffed back heavily as his suddenly runny nose, and it was at that moment that Musashi could stand it no more.

Pulling back her hand like spring she lashed out a powerful slap across his face, and squeezed her eyes shut.

Dead silence fell upon all present after the koromon let out a severe gasp in utter shock and Neamon's round-eyed "Oh!" The eerie silence of the many little animal eyes all around only broke up with Nyaasu turning away and slapping his forehead with a "nya" somewhere between a moan and a snarl. But Musashi still saw none of them, and her eyes remained focused on Kojiro, who as far as she was concerned was the only one that mattered at the moment, although by the way she then continued, one might hardly think this disturbed young woman thought as such.

"You idiot!" she snapped. "You idiot, Kojiro! What's the matter with you?! I almost died because of you! Why do you have to be such an idiot?! Why did you have to go looking for me in the middle of the _desert_!? Do you know the agony we went through looking for you!?" Her arms wrenched out near painfully in their larger-than-life swoops in front of her. "KOJIRO!"

His teeth chattered slightly as Kojiro slowly lifted his head to face Musashi again. Maybe he had always looked this way, and she just had not noticed, but as their eyes met again, something was wrong. Kojiro looked at Musashi with soulful, puppy-dog eyes that for the most part were no different from the exaggerated expressions he always made, but there was something behind those jade orbs, something deep and hollow and unlike Kojiro.

It almost made her want to slap him again, but instead she only stared wide-eyed and helpless as Aeromon suddenly suggested that Kojiro get some rest.

"Yes!" gasped Palmon. "Yes, we can set up a place, right away, right?" She turned around to the tanemon.

The tanemon agreed readily.

"We can roll down another mat!" exclaimed the tanemon as they dashed into the hall.

Kojiro's eyes fell miserably to the ground, and he dipped his head, causing his hair to close in around his face as a pair of curtains suddenly drawn together. A heavy breath escaped him, but he followed willingly after Aeromon and Palmon who led him into the hall to get something to eat.

Musashi's eyes, however, never once left Kojiro. She slowly turned around, and followed him before he disappeared into the hall; then she had no choice but to look at something else. Who else did her eyes fall upon but Tailmon, standing near the entrance where she had been about to follow the others. Musashi could not bear to look at those huge, icy eyes, and quickly spun her head away with a huff and tight crossing of her arms, not to mention a large pout.

"You coming, Musashi?"

She glanced idly down at Nyaasu standing not far from her.

"No," she grumped. "Let him rest. The sooner he gets rested up the better, and the sooner we can leave this place." She sighed and closed her eyes. "I hate this place," she added in a whisper, but when she opened her eyes Nyaasu had already gone. He had already gone inside the hall.

The hot sting burned in her eyes again, but she quickly brushed those tears aside with the back of her thumb before she walked after Nyaasu and into the hall.

Sniffing miserably a moment, Musashi lifted her head and stared down at the circle that the digimon had formed with Kojiro placed so that he face the doorway in which she was entering. The koromon and tanemon were trying to get Kojiro to eat, but Kojiro did not seem at all interested, and how could he be with all those little things swarming around him like annoying little flies. He slumped his head down at his place and slid one chopstick around in his food in circles gloomily.

Musashi scowled.

"Leave Kojiro alone!" she snapped, marching angrily toward them. She downright charged, causing the little digimon to run away in a hurry, and kneeling down just behind him, she rested a hand on his shoulder.

Kojiro glanced up briefly, but then lowered his head again, stabbing the cold rice with his chopstick.

"Are you okay, Kojiro?" Musashi asked softly, as softly as she ever did, which surprising was quite soft and even sincere despite rarely using the tone.

Again he looked to her. Only this time he lifted his head too, and he gazed upon Musashi as if searching for some answer he could not gain access to. Then in a sudden burst of emotion, he let out a loud cry and fell upon Musashi with uncontrollable tears spraying waterfalls out of his head as he collapsed upon her.

"Oh, Musashi!" he sobbed. "I thought you guys were dead! Maybe I'm still dreaming!"

"Well — er — uh," Musashi stammered, trying her best to recover. She gave him a good hug and then began again. "Hey, we're okay," she told him.

Taking his arms gently, she returned them to his person; though, because of this she saw the large, stained bandage on his arm where his sleeve was pulled back. She had noticed it before, sort of, but to see it so close, so dirty, so real, it made her shudder and to wonder what really had happened to Kojiro since she had last seen him.

"Really, we're okay …" she said.

Musashi pried her eyes from the wound to his face, but his eyes were no better to look at, if not worse, all swollen and red with deep, dark bags sagging underneath.

"We've been just fine," she went on. "Just get a hold of yourself. You're with us now. You're safe. Really. Really." Lifting a napkin from the table she offered it to Kojiro, which he took absently as if not recognizing the purpose for it; thus his eyes and nose continued to be wet with emotion.

"N-yeah," Nyaasu said now on the other side of Kojiro. "You're okay. You're with us, and we can go home nya-ow, nya."

Kojiro's features contorted strangely.

"Home?" he squeaked as if the idea was completely novel.

"Yes!" exclaimed Musashi. "Home! No more of this _Alice in Wonderland_. We can go home, forget this crap and be Team Rocket again like we should be! I had it with this place."

"Yeah," Kojiro nodded slowly; his eyes lifted to the ceiling in a thoughtful awkward manner. "Me too. I …" He let out a sigh that his companions did not notice. "Team Rocket …?" he murmured.

"Yes, Team Rocket!" exclaimed Musashi. "I know you miss it! We'll go back as soon as we can get everyone to show us a way out. Somebody's bound to know if going in and out of this world is relatively normal." She seemed to have forgotten the thousands of years between human visits bit, and she smiled in spite of the situation as she handed a blank-eyed Kojiro a pair of pokéballs.

Kojiro took the balls and held then sadly.

"Then it's back to Musashi and Kojiro top agents!" exclaimed Musashi.

"And Nyaasu, nya!" cried Nyaasu.

"'Team Rocket travels to any star in the galaxy', sure," Musashi went on, "but it's always to come back to earth again eventually!"

Both Musashi and Nyaasu noticed the negative response this time as Kojiro lowered his head and let out a moan, letting his pokéballs roll onto the dirt floor as he clutched the sides of his head. It seemed as if a migraine had suddenly struck him.

"_Yana kanji_ …" he groaned.

Nyaasu looked at Musashi and Musashi looked at Nyaasu. Both noticed how very wide the eyes of the other's pair became. Then they turned back to Kojiro.

"_Ii kanji_, nya," corrected Nyaasu.

"Sure," Musashi agreed, as she rubbed a hand over his shoulders encouragingly, and picking up his pokéballs off the floor. She handed them back to him. "Just get some rest, Kojiro, and we'll be home before you know it."

Kojiro took the balls and belted them. He then smiled weakly, a little sadly even, but nodded in agreement.


	20. Questions

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY:

QUESTIONS

The digimon were huddled around the fire in an opened ceiling hut on the edge of the village. It was late and the koromon, tanemon, and the other worlders were asleep, yet now that Kojiro had been found, many things could not be submerged any longer.

"It's very strange," said Agumon. "The humans have been here for more than a month, and nothing is happening like before."

"Well, with Daisuke it wasn't different, wasn't it?" asked Palmon with a careless shrug.

"And Yuri, the first boy to come here, and his friends were very different from when Taichi came," added Aeromon in agreement.

"But Agumon's right," Piyomon said, "these humans aren't anything like the other children who come here. There's no crests."

"Or eggs either," Hawkmon had to admit. He had been aware of the missing human for some time after hearing about it from Gomamon while he searched all the waterways. Quickly Hawkmon had gathered the help of Armadillomon, Gabumon, and Patamon to be on the lookout for Kojiro too.

"Or digivices," said Palmon.

"And especially, there are no digimon," said Neamon, looking up from his bean can from which he was shoveling beans into his mouth with a pair of chopsticks. He swallowed hard the large gulp in his mouth and added more clearly, "You'd think one of theirs would have showed up by now"

"What about their, um, pokémon?" demanded Gomamon. "What are they?"

"Creatures from their world," said Tailmon, only now speaking for the first time, for the digimon had been speaking amongst themselves for some time in this hut. No conclusions were being made all the while, and Tailmon had been silently watching at times and looking out the window at the others until now.

"Look," she said. "There's something really important I have to say. Something I probably should have said a long time ago, but with the missing human and everything I …" she looked down at her knees upon which she sat looking very guilty.

"What's wrong Tailmon?" asked Piyomon.

"Yeah, what is it; you can tell us!" Gomamon urged. "Get it out!"

"Well …" Tailmon started, and she lifted her eyes to the group again. "It's two things actually. One thing I wasn't sure about until now, but the other everyone had a right to know from the beginning."

"Oh?" cried Neamon.

"Enough with the suspense, Tailmon, tell us!" Gomamon exclaimed, leaping up in the air.

"Yeah, it's okay," said Agumon. "What do you know about them?"

"The thing you should've said first," said Gomamon.

"Okay," Tailmon agreed, feeling her courage building, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "It's like this. Those humans. Musashi and Kojiro. They aren't like the other humans who came here. They … they're not good."

"What do you mean?" asked Palmon.

Hawkmon raised a brow. "What about Ken, he wasn't good."

"But this is different!" Tailmon insisted. "They're from a world where there are creatures like us, but they cannot speak as humans do. They're smart enough in their own way, but I think they are simpler in nature. I think in some ways the humans are too."

"What about Nyaasu?" asked Agumon.

Tailmon shook her head. "I don't know about Nyaasu. He's … he's just as strange as his human companions. The humans in that world use pokémon for a game, which I guess the pokémon don't seem to mind, but I still think it's pointless to fight like that. They battle in contests and other organized games. But Kojiro and Musashi work for a criminal organization that steals pokémon from their human friends."

The digimon gasped.

"Really?!" cried Piyomon. "That's terrible."

"Oh, I never would have thought that!" Palmon added.

"That's disgusting!" growled Hawkmon.

"And I," Tailmon went on. "I have no idea what they do to them at their base, but it isn't good."

"So …" said Gomamon carefully. "What you're saying is that they're bad humans, basically. No offence, Tailmon, but I'm sure we kind of gathered they weren't exactly good. Even you weren't good to begin with."

"It's not just that," said Tailmon, "they aren't even from the normal human world that we're used to. They're minds are … I don't know. Something's just not right. It's more than that they're just bad."

"But they're still human," said Gomamon sagely but not without just a little cheek.

Piyomon heartily agreed. "Gomamon's right. It shouldn't matter where they're from; they're still human, right?"

"They're human alright," said Agumon with a quick nod.

"Okay, so what's the other thing?" asked Neamon.

Hesitating, Tailmon held her paws together and then said, "I don't think they've come to help us. I don't think they've come for any reason. I brought them here by accident, because I got in a stupid argument with Nyaasu. I feel ashamed for what I did, but they tried to capture me when I was in a weakened state, and I was really fed up with them by that point, especially Nyaasu. They made me sick."

"It's kinda understandable," muttered Agumon.

"I tried to think that maybe they were here for a reason, but I don't think so anymore," said Tailmon. "It seems to be making things worse not better. Not to mention what happened to the human boy, and he didn't have a digimon the whole time. They aren't here to save us. It's obvious."

A grave silence fell over all present, and everyone lowered their heads with confusion and doubt. All except Gomamon. Staring at Tailmon with intensity, he slowly stood upright on his seal-like flippers. A determined glint shown in his eyes with all seriousness. He had no more cheek left in his stern face.

"You don't know that," he said.

Tailmon looked up at the large glaring eyes of Gomamon as he stepped into the circle. "I surprised at you, Tailmon! You of all digimon should understand that nothing is ever what it first appears. Maybe you _are_ right, maybe these humans didn't come here for the same reasons the other humans did, maybe they aren't here to save the digital world from a virus attack, but here's another theory."

Everyone held their breath and waited in hushed anticipation to hear what Gomamon would say next.

Holding up his flipper dramatically Gomamon said, "What if humans don't come here for us at all? None of them! What if our understanding of the reason why they come here is wrong. I suppose it's all the better for the humans that come here to think they come for us, but I've thought long and hard, and I don't think they do. I think the reason they come here, the whole purpose of this world of trials and drama only exists for the sole purpose of those young people. To show them something they would otherwise never have gained without such a wild adventure and scary stuff happening to them and friends to rescue from danger."

"What's that?" asked Neamon curiously.

"Courage, love, friendship, sincerity, purity, hope … all the things that their modern societies have almost forgotten!" exclaimed Gomamon. "All the humans who come here end up better. Like Jyou who started out freaking out about everything and unable to face the world past his books. It was coming here and going through all this crazy stuff that he wouldn't have found in school that changed him. It's scary to think what would have happened to him if he hadn't come here. He would have been one freaky stiff, that's all I know. They change when they come here, not for us, but for _themselves_ and to bring what they've learned from having to face down fears and stuff to their own lives and the _other_ people they know in their own world, and I think that the worse the human is to begin with, the better it is for them being here!"

"Well said, Gomamon!" cried Hawkmon.

"Agreed!" exclaimed Aeromon, clapping his claws together in admiration.

Palmon laughed. "That was quite a speech Gomamon."

Also smiling, Agumon turned to the one to whom the argument had been against. "Tailmon?" he said.

Tailmon nodded, and slowly allowed a sheepish smile to appear on her face as her cheeks turned bright red under her white fur.

"You may be right, Gomamon," she said, and then she sighed. "But there still is one thing."

"What's that, Tailmon?" asked Piyomon worriedly.

"Did the experience that happened to Kojiro really make him better? Or did it make him worse?"

"Uh …" started Agumon.

"I don't know what he was like before," said Palmon.

"None of us do," Gomamon pointed out.

"I got a question too, though."

Everyone turned to Hawkmon.

"All this still doesn't explain what we do if the viruses do start to attack," he said. "If the humans really haven't come here to help, they have actually stirred things up."

"We'll worry about it when it comes up," Agumon said.

"Then what do we do now?" asked Palmon.

"What else _can_ we do?" Gomamon demanded, shrugging.

"We wait …" said Tailmon.

#

"Kojiro …" Musashi began yet with no response, and so she started again, firmer this time. "Kojiro."

Still no answer came from the heap of what probably was a human body under that mess of blanket and tuft of bluish hair. She might have wondered whether there was really anything under there but a pile of leaves and a blue mop situated to look like her partner sleeping there, but a deep, shaky exhale sounded from under the heap, and the place where the shoulders probably were heaved up and down strongly with this breath.

Musashi frowned.

"Kojiro, I know you're awake," she grumbled. "You've been lying there for a day now, and you haven't even moved."

Still Kojiro was not answering.

With eyes rolling to the ceiling, Musashi just barely refrained from giving Kojiro a rough kick in the back. As unwell as Kojiro happened to be, she supposed that hurting him wouldn't be the best thing to help him get better. The fact that she still had not fully recovered from the absence of her partner no doubt helped with this decision. Instead, she clicked the roof of her mouth and slipped into a squat beside him.

"Maybe he's sick, nya," Nyaasu suggested, reaching over from a low bench, and he poked Kojiro in the head. "A fever or something, nya?"

Finally, Kojiro reacted, and he let out a pitiful moan. His head recoiled deeper into his pillow and blanket.

"As soon as you get up," Musashi said. "We're leaving."

Nyaasu lifted a skeptical brow. "Uh, Musashi _where_ exactly are we going, nya?"

Glancing darkly at the pokémon, she replied, "Anywhere, stupid!" She felt the need to take the situation out on someone, so in returning to Kojiro's seemingly lifeless form, she threw out a fist and punched Nyaasu right off the stool.

Leaping right up again, Nyaasu clenched his teeth and growled.

"What was that for?! Nya!" Nyaasu snarled.

"We're going to find our way home!" she snapped.

"Nya, nya, nya … you didn't have to shove me, nya!" Nyaasu screamed, thrusting himself into Musashi's face.

Musashi lifted a clenched fist; Nyaasu held his claws at the ready, and both growled savagely.

"Please, you guys …" wheezed an eerie, little voice.

The voice apparently came from Kojiro, and as Nyaasu and Musashi turned full attention to the heap of blankets, they stared with saucer eyes. It had been almost a day since he last spoke regardless of the strange sound which the voice now took on.

"Nya?" Nyaasu asked as he and Musashi let their battle-ready arms rest at their sides.

Noticing that her ankles were becoming uncomfortable in her squat, she moved into a kneeling position, and with hands pressed on the edge of Kojiro's mat, she heaved a wistful sighed.

"Please stop yelling," Kojiro whined, and clearing his throat to speak more clearly he added, "I can't stand it."

Lifting his head, sluggishly from his pillow, he sniffed, and rubbed his eyes, which seemed somehow more swollen than before. He must have been crying to himself when no one was around. Now, rising to his knees and rubbing his temple with the palm of his hand, his face still looked damp, but it could have been with sweat rather than tears. As his hand left his face, his hair fell to replace the gap the hand had made so that only a sliver of his face could be seen through the oily strands.

"Yeah, sure, Kojiro, whatever you say, nya," said Nyaasu honestly; though he did still throw Musashi an irate glance.

"Are you getting up?" Musashi asked. She had seen the leer but chose now to completely ignore the cat.

It was Nyaasu's fault they were in this mess anyway. His fault they tried to capture Tailmon. His fault she escaped. His fault they all ended up in this stupid place at all, and if they hadn't been looking for Nyaasu, Kojiro would never have become lost!

Yes, Musashi knew, the thoughts were a little exaggerated, yes, she knew her reasoning to be quite petty, and no, she did not care in the least.

"Come on," said Musashi, and she held out a sack, which she had made from her pillowcase and now had filled so tight with food she could barely tie it up. "I got us packed. Now we can split before they even know we're gone. Everyone else is asleep. Now's are chance."

"They're ny-ot exactly keeping us prisoner here, you kny-ow," Nyaasu grumbled.

"Shut up!" Musashi shouted, shaking with passion in spite of herself. "No one asked you!"

"Nya …" Nyaasu grumbled.

"You don't want to stay here do you?" Musashi demanded.

"Well, ny-o, but we can't just leave if we don't kny-ow where we're going, nya," Nyaasu grumbled. "We're better off just staying here until we find out how to leave, nya."

"You just want to stay with Tailmon!"

"This has ny-othing to do with TAILMON! I just think we should wait until they tell us how to get out of this dump!"

"Liar!" hissed Musashi.

"Oh …!" Kojiro moaned, clutching his head. "Just stop, please, stop! No wonder we always lost."

"What are you talking about?" Musashi snapped, forgetting all about being gentle, and now threw herself in Kojiro's face demandingly.

"We're always fighting!" Kojiro sobbed. "I suck!"

"You don't suck!" shouted Musashi. "Suck it up, and let's go! Stop being a big baby!"

"I … I … I'm sorry!" Kojiro sobbed, and he started to wail, throwing up his arms miserably. Then shoving himself back into the pillow, he began to cry. He pounded the ground with his fists. He choked on his tears and shook violently.

After a moment of staring even more blankly than before at their quite emotionally disturbed companion, not knowing at all what to make of the situation much less how to act upon it, Musashi and Nyaasu turned to each other instead. They knew exactly how to respond to each other's dagger leers.

"Nya-ow look what you did, nya?!" Nyaasu cried.

"I didn't do anything!" screamed Musashi.

"Well, you're just sitting there yelling at him and calling him nya-ames, nya!"

"Well, you're not helping either, you stupid cat!"

"Leave me alone, nya!"

"Make me! This is all your fault anyway!"

"My fault?! NYA!"

"Yes, you're fault. Falling for that stupid Tailmon! You're pathetic, Nyaasu! Just pathetic!"

"_GRRRRR_! You were always beating him up over every little thing, nya!"

"This about _now_, not what happened before! And I can make a pretty big lump on _your_ head, if you want that'll make you feel it till next Thursday!"

"Crazy violent maniac!"

BONK!

"NYA! That hurt!"

"I'll hit you again, right in your big, loud mouth!"

"If you do that, I'll fury swipes your hair, nya!"

"You wouldn't dare, you little freak!"

"You wan-nya bet, you witch?!"

"Oh! You're gunna _so get it, Nyaasu_!"

"Five hundred pounds of sakan-nya, nya!" Nyaasu straightened and curled his tail up more than usual as he lifted a paw with his offer.

"I'm not _betting_ anything! Especially not food, idiot!"

"Volcano brains!"

"_BAKA!_"

And during the shouts and screams and threats, Kojiro continued to cry even louder and more ridiculously woeful than before, but neither noticed. Mere seconds passed after Musashi's final insult before she aimed her fist right at Nyaasu's face just as she had promised. She missed just barely, hitting Nyaasu on the top of his head again instead, but Nyaasu was up in a flash ready with a full set of claws to scratch her where he had promised.

Outside the door, Tailmon could not help but shake her head sadly. She had been about to see how Kojiro was doing, but the shouting and wailing more than told her the condition of Kojiro and the condition of his other human and Nyaasu. They fed off each others' problems, not on purpose, she thought, but whether conscious of what they did or not, they only made each other worse. She doubted the trio of dismal villains could be explained in any other way. It was surprising they had not destroyed each other already without virus interference. When she had first met them, she had already gathered as much; at the time it only sickened her with revulsion. Yet somehow to see them act like this now finally together after a month of being separated from their friend, she could not help but feel a strong pity for them.


	21. Nyaasu

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:

Nyaasu

_Musashi? Bossy._

_Kojiro? Fop._

_Nyaasu (that's me, nya)? Well, I considered myself the brains, of course!_

_Musashi? Extrovert_

_Kojiro? Introvert._

_Me? Extrovert, I suppose, but I can be introverted if I want to be. Nya._

_Musashi? Choleric._

_Kojiro? Melancholic._

_But both have a touch of sanguine to keep them from being too heavy and from thinking too deeply most of the time._

_Nyaasu? Nyaasu is in between. I suppose that makes me mediator._

_I could use it to be helpful. Sometimes I do, but more often than not I just used my influence on both with my knowledge of both extreme personalities to get what I wanted. Extreme personalities are easy to convince of stuff they would not normally think by getting them riled in one way or the other._

Musashi, you're the tough one, aren't you?

Kojiro? Are you losing you're nerve?

_To be honest, I never thought of myself as being a mediator until that day. In fact, before that, if anyone could be called mediator ever it would have be Kojiro who leaped between Musashi and me to keep us from ripping out each other's throats when we lost our tempers with each other._

_Nya, this did not go exactly how I planned it._

_Oh, well!_

_I'll start again!_

_Nya!_

_Ny-eah, ny-eah, I kny-ow you kny-ow the story. I was abandoned on the roadside crying all cute and kitten-like. I ran to that dismal city that looked a lot more bright and hopeful on screen (what doesn't?). After a few months that felt like years of wandering around scraping for food, then I find what I thought I had always wanted: love in the form of that pampered pet, bows in her whiskers, the healthiest shine in her clean, softly brushed fur, the cutest purr in her contented bejeweled throat as she sat sunning herself in the window. Sure, you kny-ow. I told you all this crap before. If it had not been for her, I would never have learned to talk. I never would have learned to walk upright, eat with chopsticks and spoons in dishes, or read, or write, how to build or later from Mondo how to sing and play instruments, how to cook, and even how to mend broken things. All the things that humans do. Nya … don't get me wrong, I wouldn't give up being able to talk like humans for the world, but I also learned others things that humans can and often do. I learned to destroy. Was I even capable of anything else now even when man, who had taught me my ways, no longer wanted to fight?_

_Talking about myself is harder than it used to be._

#

Musashi glared down at Kojiro, arms crossed firmly over her chest, and her stance cocked at the hip. Contrary to her angry posture however, her voice was soft. Though the strain it caused her to keep it gentle proved more than obvious.

"Kojiro?"

"Musashi," Kojiro said, looking ever more the dejected puppy as he turned around from where he had been seated, staring blankly at the wall, hands in his lap, legs crossed, and back arched.

"I'm …" Musashi began. "I'm sorry about earlier."

She paused, glancing mildly at Nyaasu in his little hammock and who only stared back as emotionless as possible so as not to cause another explosion from Katie Kaboom. She turned back to Kojiro, but her eyes fell to her twiddling fingers rather than to her partner.

"I know you've been through a lot," she went on. "I know you must have been scared and that they must have done awful things to you, but …"

Kojiro's eyes scrunched up as he tried to keep the moisture from building and releasing into another cry.

Musashi stopped. "You're not going to cry again, are you?" she demanded.

Biting his lip, Kojiro continued only to stare with no word to say, but he did not cry … yet anyway.

"Kojiro," Musashi said again as soothingly as she could manage. "I think we should go. Aren't you tired of being here?"

A choke escaped him, and his head jolted as if attempting to push the emotion downward from exploding like last time. He closed his eyes and nodded stiffly. Turning around he gasped for breath and leaned his head against the wall.

"Then why aren't you coming?" Musashi demanded of the shaky shoulders and mop of blue-purple she was now faced with. She frowned. "You're not physically hurt!" Stepping right up to him, temper rising fast, Nyaasu could see the gage reaching its limit and could not help but wince, she growled, "Just get up and come on! What? Do you want me to drag you out of here!?"

"Musashi …" Nyaasu grumbled. He had meant to keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't help it. "Where are we gun-nya go, nya? It's ny-ot like we can just hitch a ride home?"

Musashi threw a set of barred teeth to Nyaasu, then turned roughly back to Kojiro, then throwing back her head she screamed, "You two are impossible!"

"But Musashi!" cried Kojiro, spinning around violently, a few stray tears flying from his face as he did.

"_What_?!" Musashi screamed in return.

Instantly, Kojiro stopped. He lowered his head. He said nothing.

"What?" Musashi said again, much calmer and reserved but still gruff.

"I feel sick …" Kojiro murmured without lifting his head again.

With an exasperated growl, Musashi spun around for the little empty doorway. "I can't _stand_ it!" she cried, her hands wrenching through her hair, and with one last growl, she flew out of the room.

"Musashi!" Nyaasu called, but she wasn't coming back.

With a shake of his head somewhere between annoyed and sad, and he turned back to Kojiro.

Kojiro did not look like he was in the mood for company, as he thrashed out a hand angrily and pounded it in a fist on the mat. It seemed even more improbable when he sunk his head, his legs still beneath him, to the pillow, and great sobs started to choke him again.

Hopping off his hammock, Nyaasu crept carefully toward Kojiro, but just as he lifted a paw to say something, his mind was made up. Turning around, he made for the door as well. He could not help but look back once at the doorway, but that did not stop Nyaasu from continuing on out of the room, as sluggish as his exit was.

But as his head returned in front of him, Nyaasu jumped.

A round, white face had practically materialized in front of him.

"Tailmon!" he cried, fur on end.

"Nyaasu," she returned, and she looked away. "About Kojiro."

Nyaasu's face darkened and he rolled his eyes. "What about him, nya?"

"Are you going to abandon him like your other human friend did," she said.

"Nya …" Nyaasu muttered. This was put in place of something along the lines of, "Oh, Musashi will be back soon, she's just being a stubborn girl."

"Nyaasu, he needs his friends," said Tailmon. "He needs you. Look at him."

With a loud groan, Nyaasu pulled a paw over his face, "What do you think I've been doing for that past day and a half, nya?"

"Just look at him," hissed Tailmon, she nudged toward the door.

Nyaasu reluctantly obeyed; though, he did not actually have much of choice in the matter. Kojiro with face buried in his arms, continued to cry, and it was a terrible thing to watch. Shaking every now and then, he let out moans and mutters that Nyaasu was glad were inaudible, but all were self degrading and painful to listen to even if he did not understand the exact words through Kojiro's sobs.

Turning back to Tailmon, Nyaasu looked pretty sorrowful himself, but he quickly cleared his face, shaking the tears from building up in his own eyes.

A small gulp escaped Nyaasu as he glanced once more into the room and stepped close to Tailmon to whisper, "Tailmon, what did they do to him?"

Tailmon shook her head. "The evil digimon, the viruses. They destroy humans. It's what they do."

"But what's the point of it?!" Nyaasu hissed, thrusting a paw toward the door. "Wouldn't it've been easier just to kill him and be done with it? Nyah. They're crazy! It's … it's disgusting what they did to him. Can he even recover, nya?"

"Yes," said Tailmon. "He can."

Closing his eyes tight, Nyaasu held down his own feelings of nausea and fear that began swimming around inside of him.

"Aeromon said that they wanted to make him the second digimon Kaiser," Tailmon explained.

"What _is_ that, nya?" Nyaasu demanded.

"The last digimon Kaiser was a human who was so controlled and debased with virus influence that he ruled a tyrant over the digital world with blind malice and cruelty. Rage and despair that had built up inside him with the help of the viruses had driven him completely insane!"

A spine numbing chill ran down Nyaasu's spine at the very thought of Kojiro ruling this place. Nyaasu could see an insane grin, and a wild look in Kojiro's eyes like that of when he got especially crazy normally only at least ten times worse.

_Dressed like a Nazi or a Chinese communist except with a broad, ridiculously bejeweled crown on top of his head and a sweeping cloak made of digimon skin, he roared out orders and laughed maniacally from his throne._

"_I want that statue of me to reach the clouds!" he screamed, hands thrust with emphasis above his head._

"_But Kojiro-sama!" said a slave digimon, "We've run out of the entire world's supply of jade."_

"_I don't care!" Kojiro roared with a machine gun leveled in his hands. "Make it or suffer the wrath of Kaiser Kojiro! Find more! Make more! I just want it done!"_

_Nyaasu and Musashi stared at each other, first fearfully then slowly but supremely annoyed._

"_Kojiro!" snapped Musashi, shaking her fist. "Get out of that getup and let's go! You're making a fool of yourself!"_

"_N-yeah!" agreed Nyaasu. "Stop being an idiot, nya!"_

"_Can't you see I'm busy!?" Kojiro cried._

"_Kojiro, we're your friends! Let's go!" cried Musashi._

"_Team Rocket, remember? Nyah!"_

_Kojiro frowned, and his frown deepened into a scowl that was almost a pout, except that his eyes blazed with an unquenchable insanity._

"_The racks! For both of them!" shouted Kojiro. Even as a tyrant, he held himself up with ridiculous pomp as he let out the words, "You're no friends of mine! All you ever did was make me feel inferior. Well not anymore! NOT ANYMORE! Now _you'll_ be the ones to feel inferior and beg for mercy at my feet!" And he laughed maniacally as he threw a leg over the other and clasped triumphantly onto the golden arms of his throne._

"_Nya! Wait! Kojiro, this is a mistake, nya …!"_

Nyaasu blinked, wide-eyed and quickly shook the terrible images out of his head. What really had happened was bad enough!

"But what can I do about him, nya?" he demanded of Tailmon.

"Be there for him," Tailmon whispered. "Help him. Talk to him. Just be with him. I know you're not a digimon, but you're still his friend, or least one of the two closest things he has to friends."

"Nya …" Nyaasu sighed. "I don't kny-ow what to say to him. He won't listen to anybody without falling apart again."

"Well, maybe if you both stopped treating him like crap while he's writhing in misery," said Tailmon.

Nyaasu lowered his head shamefully.

Slowly, he turned for the doorway. "Okay, Tailmon," he said, glancing at her over his shoulder. "I don't kny-ow what good it will do, but I'll try."

Tailmon nodded. "Just try."

With a resolute air and puffing out of his chest, Nyaasu marched into the room. A few paces in he slumped; however, and by the time he reached Kojiro's side, he looked quite timid as he peered around Kojiro's back towards his face.

"Nya …" Nyaasu started.

"Hmm."

"Say, Kojiro, how's it going, nya?"

Kojiro turned slowly and although he said nothing, his expression proved more than enough to express the sentiment: "Uh, Nyaasu, what kind of question is that?" With one brow raised high above the other and mouth slightly ajar in an awkward manner.

Defensively, Nyaasu held up his paws. "Okay, nya. Okay, bad question, but seriously, tell me, uh … do you want company, nya?"

Releasing a sigh, Kojiro crossed his legs under him and ran his fingers through his hair before slumping forward over his lap. "I don't know," he muttered.

"Don't you kny-ow anything, nya?" Nyaasu asked with slight impatience that did not go unnoticed by Kojiro whose grimace down at his stocking feet did not encourage the situation.

Nyaasu groaned loudly, and turned back to the doorway. Tailmon with a deep glare, motioned with her head for Nyaasu to stay before she herself disappeared.

"Nya …" Nyaasu said, his shoulders sagging again.

"You don't have to stay," said Kojiro, "if you don't want to. Don't let Tailmon make you. I can just sit here. I don't mind."

Fur rose angrily along his back, and Nyaasu turned roughly back to his teammate. "Ny-o! I want to stay here!" he snapped. "And you don't want to sit here alone, nya!"

Kojiro shrugged and leaned back against the wall. "It doesn't matter anyway," he said gloomily. "Here, our world, what's the difference?" Tears were beginning to form in his eyes yet again. "At least here we don't have to deal with our lives!"

"Oh, come on, Kojiro, nya," Nyaasu said. "It's ny-ot that bad. Okay, so we aren't exactly as ny-umber one as we'd like to be, but hey! We can't all be ny-umber one! We do our job, that's all that matters! Somebody has to do it, nya."

With a sniff and a shake of his head, Kojiro looked up with a cloudy, faraway gaze. A long pause followed, and Nyaasu sat down on the edge of the mat; his head was in his forepaws and his eyes on his hind paws.

"We were so bad," Kojiro whispered.

Nyaasu raised his eyes. "What?"

Kojiro waved a hand aside and shook his head. "Nothing."

"Of course, we were bad," Nyaasu muttered, and he straightened up. and with a leg tossed casually over the other, he turned around to Kojiro. "Bad to the bone, nya! We lie, we cheat, we sneak, we plot! We're good at disguising! Ny-o one ever recognya-izes us!" He grinned. "It's what we do, nya! Say the motto! Get Pikachu! Steal rare pokémon! …" Though, he sounded enthusiastic about it, in the back of Nyaasu's mind he did not feel as enthusiastic as he used to be. Somehow thinking on their old lives did not fill him with as much yearning as it had even a week ago. His grin fell away with his words at the end of the little speech, and he looked up at Kojiro inquisitively.

Kojiro did not even seem to have heard him.

Clearing his throat and coughing slightly into his paw, Nyaasu smiled just a little. "Say, Kojiro," he said in an entirely different sort of mood. "You kny-ow what's therapeutic? Petting. You kny-ow, like when they bring cats and dogs and other creatures into hospitals …? Nya?"

Only an odd stared came as a response.

Licking his lips, which had suddenly become quite dry, Nyaasu added, "I'll be generous and let you pet me."

"I feel so alone," Kojiro sighed wearily.

Nyaasu slapped his face and growled.

"Kojiro," he said simply, ignoring his disgust as well as he could. "You're ny-ot alone, nya. I'm here. Musashi's … well," he glanced behind him briefly and returning to Kojiro, he shrugged, "she'll come around, nya, and the koromon are here and Tailmon's here and Aeromon's here … How are you alone exactly, nya!?"

A visible shiver ran over Kojiro.

"Everyone's worried about you, nya," said Nyaasu.

"But, Nyaasu," said Kojiro, intensity building. His fists began to clench, his teeth to set, his shoulders to stiffen. "… I've been thinking."

"Nyah? See, there's the problem, nya," Nyaasu explained.

A strange change came over Kojiro then. Flaring up to the point in which his face completely glowed red with passion, he glowered at Nyaasu with the sulk of a child and the anger of a dog poked one too many times.

"SEE?!" he cried. "SEE?! There you go again! Both of you! You and Musashi! You were right, Nyaasu! No one respects me! No one really cares!" He slammed his fists on the ground. "Everyone thinks I can't think for myself! And maybe they're right! Maybe I can't!" His yell was quickly turning into a pitiful wail. "Maybe I _am_ good for nothing … maybe I … Oh! Nyaasu!" he gasped, and then he started to cry. "Why do I have to suck so bad?"

Nyaasu rolled his eyes as the tears began rolling down Kojiro's face, and after a moment or two of this melodrama, Nyaasu finally shouted at the top of his lungs, "KOJIRO!"

Kojiro stopped, staring blankly. He almost looked like old times, except for the fact that his eyes were still red and the rings around his eyes were the color of Weezing's natural complexion (certainly not a good thing in human beings).

At first Nyaasu did not know what to say now that he actually had Kojiro's attention. He twiddled his fingers a little and his eyes, almost as wide as his partner's, slowly looked away.

"Just shut up and pet me, nya," Nyaasu muttered, and he situated himself about as catlike as he ever became. Sulkily throwing his head onto his paws and curling his tail around his body, he leaned against Kojiro's leg.

Kojiro was hesitant at first, and it took a long time for him to snap out of his shock, but after a moment or two, he gently rested a hand on Nyaasu's head. Compliantly, he scratched Nyaasu behind the ears while resting his chin in his other hand with the slightest pout as he stared out across the room.

Soon forgetting the past conversation, Nyaasu began to purr loudly, not expecting to love the scratching so much even though it was not entirely conscious on Kojiro's part. Maybe that just made it better, Nyaasu decided. He pushed his head into the nails scratching hard behind his ears. He purred even louder and stretched out his paws in front of him, flexing them in the manner in which cats often do when content.

It was more than the simple scratching. This was what cats lived for, and it had been so very long since Nyaasu felt this needed attention from anybody. With all this weirdness in being treated like the human he always pretended to be (well, not human but the dominant species with responsibilities and required explanations) he was more than happy to be a little kitty cat for a while.

Maybe to be a little kitty cat was all Nyaasu really needed …

Maybe just home and hearth and a full cat dish would be enough to make Nyaasu happy.

Maybe … but it didn't look like that was about to happen any time soon.

Kojiro knew how to pet. His best friend in childhood had been a puppy dog, after all, and he had a special natural gift in understanding what pokémon wanted, which was incredibly ironic since he mostly tried to kidnap them. But on the special occasions when he was not in the mood for rocketing, he knew how to make a pokémon happy, and after a while, Nyaasu figured that Kojiro was doing this for Nyaasu and not for himself. That was when Nyaasu came down from his dreamy place in kitty cat instincts. Opening his eyes he glanced up at Kojiro.

Blinking slowly, Kojiro continued to stare forward very lost in thought, and whatever he thought had to be quite deep by the look in his eyes and the rhythmic manner in which he pet.

"Kojiro?" Nyaasu said. "We don't think you're stupid, and we do care, nya."

The scratching stopped.

"If you really want, I'll listen to what you have to say, nya," said Nyaasu. "Go ahead; I'll listen with open ears."

Kojiro closed his eyes. "I … I've just been thinking … what are we going to do when we get back home." As he spoke he began scratching Nyaasu behind the ears again, but it seemed that now he did it out of nervous energy. He could have been scratching because of this all along, Nyaasu then realized. "What … what are we going to do when we get back home? If … we ever get back home."

"Pfft," Nyaasu said, making himself more comfortable, yet trying very hard not to loll out his tongue in the long needed head massage. "We'll get back home, Kojiro, nya." He smiled in spite of the situation. "Then, I guess we'll go back to the same stuff we always do."

"Do you really want to?" asked Kojiro distantly.

"Sure, I wan-nya go back home, don't you?" asked Nyaasu.

"Yes, but … Team Rocket."

"What about Team Rocket?"

"We're so bad …" Kojiro said.

Nyaasu shrugged. "Ny-eah, so? You said that, nya. It's in our motto, isn't it? 'Lovely and charming villains'. That's you're part too, remember, nya? Though, I wouldn't go so far as to call either of you lovely or charming, but, nya … whatever, nya."

Bleary-eyed, Kojiro turned to Nyaasu. The scratching once again stopped. Nyaasu stopped his lazy attitude, and looked up with concern. There was a long pause, and Nyaasu looked away. Kojiro started to pet him, slowly along his back. He did not suppose that Kojiro could have ever thought of Nyaasu as just a pokémon, but he seemed to forget whom he was petting, and then quite suddenly without warning, the tears broke loose again.

With a loud sob, Kojiro snatched up Nyaasu who let out a surprised cry of his own, and Kojiro held him tightly like a little boy holding a beloved pet. Still quite hard, but gentle enough not to make the one held too uncomfortable. Kojiro pet the cat very hard as he continued to cry. Softly this time; though his shoulders shook with each exhale.

"We're no better than them," Kojiro loosed through his choking breath.

Nyaasu lifted a confused brow.

"Nyah?!" he cried, still pushing away with his hind paws in the typical manner of any cat who really doesn't want to be held but does not feel it quite worth the effort to escape all the way.

"It's true … we're no better than them," Kojiro barely reiterated loud enough to make out.

"Kojiro?" Nyaasu demanded. "What are you talking about, nya?"

Only sobs and chokes came as a response.

"Nya …" Nyaasu grumbled, finally giving up and allowing himself to become a limp comfort blanket for Kojiro, or whatever Kojiro was using him for. A replacement for a growlithe? He sighed heavily.

"Even when we're good we're bad," Kojiro cracked. "We can't do anything honest for anything other than our own gain or ease some guilt."

"Kojiro …" Nyaasu muttered. "You're starting to scare me. Even more than you already were, nya. I'm gun-nya use fury swipes on you if you don't kny-ock it off, nya."

"But it _is_ true." Kojiro's tenseness eased a little, but the tears were far from over in their washing down his face. Nyaasu found it hard to believe that this many tears could come from a person. "Except that no matter how many times we try, again and again over and over it just goes on in the cycle forever and ever, Team Rocket forever —"

"Are you comparing us to those viruses, Kojiro?" Nyaasu demanded, a sudden realization lighting a bulb above his head. "We're ny-othing like those viruses! We don't brainwash people, nya!"

"Yana kanji!" screeched Kojiro, throwing his head straight up, and he dropped Nyaasu on the ground.

"Nya!" Nyaasu cried again in surprise, and just as he swung his head back up to Kojiro from the slump where he landed, Kojiro's face was right in his own, causing Nyaasu again to let out a startled meow.

"We would!" Kojiro said.

Nyaasu backed away. "All we do is steal pokémon, nya!" he protested.

"No!" Kojiro snapped. "We tried to kill that, that Satoshi."

"The brat boy?" grumbled Nyaasu. "Ny-o we didn't."

"Yes, we did! Don't deny it! We tried to kill that little kid and his friends just take his stupid pikachu that the boss doesn't really want anyway! If he didn't want Togepi why would he want Pikachu?"

"Well, Kojiro, that was ages ago, and besides that's still different than brainwashing, nya!"

"Trying to kill a little boy? Stalking him like creeps?"

The wave of guilt was uncontrollable now. "Nya, nya, nya …"

"And we tried to convince pokémon and people to think our way," said Kojiro. "We've lied and confused people. We convinced people we were good. We cheated when no one was looking. If we could have …"

His face looked very dangerous now, more dangerous that Nyaasu had ever seen him, more deranged than Nyaasu even thought him capable of, and that was saying a lot. His eyes with the dark, sickly rims, his face as red as Musashi's when someone insults her hair, and his teeth set like an Ursaring while protecting his territory from unsuspecting travelers, all this made Nyaasu, jaw dropping clean to the floor, quiver with fright and his fur to stand completely on end from this quite changed human that was supposed to be anything but serious, especially as serious as he was now. More serious, Nyaasu knew, than he had been about anything in his entire life, and on top of that he was making Nyaasu feel such guilt as to make him take back his whole life right then and there!

"If we could have," Kojiro hissed, "we would have brainwashed them all. And you know it, Nyaasu."

Only then did Kojiro digress, and he looked rather sheepish and more Kojiro-like. He placed his hands in his lap and looked down wearily. Another long silence passed between the human and the cat. Then after a long while, Kojiro spoke again almost normally.

"I can still pet you if you want me too," he said.

Nyaasu shrugged, only now realizing just how hard his heart was pounding in his little chest and how short his breath had become. He clamped his mouth shut and tried to calm himself, but calmness proved some time in coming.

"I'm ny-ot really in the mood anymore, nya" he admitted.

But regardless of his words, Nyaasu sat down beside his partner. Kojiro again started to scratch his head, and Nyaasu still enjoyed it even if it was far more soberly.

"I'm sorry, nya," muttered Nyaasu, "y'ny-ow, about what happened to you. I don't like seeing you like this, Kojiro." He sighed heavily, and he paused for a while, looking up at Kojiro who did not respond. "You're a good petter, though, nya." He turned back to the floor, tapping his toes together childlike. "I'm … glad that we found you, and you're with us again. I … I was worried about you, nya." Although he spoke the words with more matter-of-fact than emotion, he meant it more than if he had spoken with emotion.

He blinked slowly, and Kojiro's hand stopped scratching and lifted from his head.

"_Arigato_, Nyaasu," Kojiro whispered.

Nyaasu shrugged. "You're welcome, nya."


	22. First Thing Next Time

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO:

First Thing Next Time

It proved difficult at first to get Kojiro to eat. First the tanemon tried, then Nyaasu, then Tailmon then even Musashi who roughly shoved Tailmon out of the way, but to no avail. It had gotten to the point that he had been at the village three days and had hardly eaten a scrap. He had some water, fortunately, but Kojiro had no interest in food. He seemed very uninterested in anything really as he continued to sit in that little room. Most of the time, he did not leave his mat.

"Kojiro!" sobbed Musashi. "You're going to starve to death if you don't eat something! Please, just eat something, Kojiro! What's wrong!? Why can't you just eat!?" And tears began streaming down from her eyes as she banged her face into Kojiro's back. "What did they do to you?"

For a long time she sat with him with the bowl of rice between them, and yes, finally Kojiro managed to eat, and finally Kojiro, after taking a few bites, suddenly realized that his stomach still existed. He began to eat ravenously and even beg for another bowl and a third as well, and maybe some pork and vegetables to go with it. Everyone breathed easy after that.

#

Kojiro's wound was quite filthy when he first arrived at the village. Tailmon in this case left this up to Palmon and the tanemon to clean him up.

Savagely unwilling at first, Kojiro complained all the while and yelled blind threats about capturing the tanemon and taking them to the boss, and about bopping their heads off. He even tried to swack them away a few times, and they had to get Nyaasu and Musashi to calm him down enough to allow them to take off the bandage. Still it was not until Musashi showed him a big, ugly fist that he finally allowed anyone to touch the bite.

Musashi and Nyaasu put the new bandages on after that as well as fresh disinfectant. The bite was on its way to healing quite properly then.

"There!" exclaimed Musashi.

"Isn't that better, nya?" Nyaasu agreed.

Kojiro smiled sheepishly, but said nothing.

#

Musashi slept very hard the first few nights after Kojiro's return, but Nyaasu awoke quite frequently, probably because his ears and senses in general were far stronger than hers were. For, though he slept fine, he often awoke to the sounds of sobs and whimpering coming from Kojiro's mat.

Sometimes Nyaasu went down for a peak, but most of the time, he just went back to sleep with a sad shake of his head, for he knew Kojiro was not awake. He was deep in troubled sleep, where dreams of his experiences haunted him, and to wake him when he needed sleep would not keep those thoughts away from him which pestered him all day long when he was awake.

Whatever torturing nightmares washed over Kojiro's unconscious mind, Nyaasu thought it best to let them take their natural course. Surely, this would pass eventually. Kojiro would be all right soon, Nyaasu kept telling himself that. All three of them recovered from things quickly enough. Why should this be any different?

_Maybe even next morning he'll be normal again_, Nyaasu thought, but each morning Kojiro did not seem much better off.

#

Neamon came in to visit Kojiro early the fourth morning. He smiled cheerily, but although Kojiro looked much better physically after having eaten yesterday for the first time since his arrival, he still looked bitterly miserably as he looked up at Neamon.

"Aww," said Neamon. "Don't be so sad."

He crept closer and then held up a steaming bowl of beans.

"You want some?" he asked.

"Uh … not right now," muttered Kojiro, then paused.

After a moment of reflection, not to mention the aroma of freshly cooked beans (he did not have to go a strict diet of beans in the desert a couple weeks back), he reached his hand out for the bowl and Neamon graciously handed the bowl over, grinning widely.

"Okay," Kojiro said, and taking a large bite, he glanced at Neamon suspiciously. Halfway through the bowl, Kojiro suspended the chopsticks between himself and the bowl and asked, "Have I … uh, seen you before?"

"Sure, you have," said Neamon. "We met before you went into the Grey Desert, remember? I said I'd go with you. I'm the one with the beans."

Kojiro let out a loud moan and squeezed his eyes shut. The chopsticks jammed into the pile of beans.

"Oh, don't so be sad! You're safe now," said Neamon; then leaping up excitedly, he snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "Hey, I know what'll make you feel better!"

Not looking entirely enthusiastic about this statement, Kojiro winced distrustfully. His eyes soon opened, however, and quite wide too along with a squeak of surprise (not to mention many beaded sweat drops) as Neamon, after plopping himself in front of Kojiro began banging his head on the floor in front of him. It sounded strangely like a hollow, plastic pipe too, which made the ordeal all the more awkward. Then all Kojiro could do was let his mouth open slightly ajar and blink stupidly.

With a loud groan, Musashi looked up groggily from her own mat where she had been sound asleep. Not entirely awake now either, she glared with a deep, red haze towards Neamon. Growling something inaudible, she threw the only thing available, which happened to be her pillow, and she threw it right at Neamon was in the process of lifting his head during one of his head bonks.

"Whoa!" cried Neamon, shaking from the sudden face-full of pillow. His ears flopped wildly as he did.

"Go away, Nyaasu …!" Musashi murmured and slumped her head back down into a sound sleep and a soft snore.

"Whadja do to 'em, nya …?" murmured Nyaasu's equally groggy form curled up in the hammock.

Neamon set the pillow beside him, and smiled. "She's pretty grumpy, huh?" he said, leaning an elbow over it.

Blinking strangely once more, Kojiro shook his head, eyes still wide as he reached for his blanket as if ready to go back to sleep, but just before his fingers touched it, he heard a flutter in the doorway. Stiffening upright with a gasp through clenched teeth, he swiveled in that direction.

"Sorry," whispered Aeromon, he backed up slightly in the doorway. "I didn't mean to startle you."

Kojiro shrugged, a very sluggish action.

"You wouldn't … uh," Aeromon started hesitantly and shook his head with more firmness. "You wouldn't want to get some fresh air, would you? It would do you good, I think."

Neamon nodded encouragingly to Kojiro; though, Kojiro did not seem to notice. He stared at Aeromon a moment.

Lowering his head with a deep sigh, he muttered, "I don't know."

"It _will_ do you good," Aeromon said.

Closing his eyes briefly, Kojiro lifted himself off of the mat, and slowly made for the door where he looked down at Aeromon with more gloom than before.

"You don't have to if you really don't want to, though," said Aeromon.

Roughly, Kojiro waved a hand aside.

"No," he grumbled. "Let's go."

"Can I come too!?" exclaimed Neamon, bounding excitedly to his feet and running for the door.

"Sure, Neamon," whispered Aeromon, "but keep your voice down. The others are still sleeping."

Neamon looked from Musashi's mat to Nyaasu's hammock and then back to Aeromon with a swoop of a single nod.

"Okay," he whispered.

Quietly (after Kojiro had slipped on his boots) he, Aeromon and Neamon exited the hall and went outside. The morning dew blanketed all, and the chill of morning sent shivers visibly down Kojiro's spine.

At first, they walked in silence out of the village, except for Neamon who whistled merry to himself, and made one or two comments about how fresh the morning was. Then after about twenty minutes of walking, Aeromon motioned away from the path, and he flew onto a tree branch looking over a row of tall bushes.

Aeromon smiled as Kojiro pushed his way through the leaves to the other side with Neamon close behind.

Ever since he had seen the human, Aeromon wanted very much to help him. He reminded him so much of his own child. He tried not to let it overwhelm him, but he could not help it. Although older and not much like him in appearance other than the fact that Kojiro was a male human (and his boy did have purplish hair even if it was more of a very dark purple rather than lavender), something about him felt like Shouta, his boy. Shouta had been the first child ever to be found by the viruses. They had tested him. They had not been as successful with Shouta as they had with other humans because of this, but Shouta had been Aeromon's friend. He had watched them pry the poor child's mind open. He had found him locked up in a primitive tower in the earlier days of the digital world. And when he had found Kojiro in that ghastly room in this newer tower, he had looked at Aeromon in much the same way as Shouta had looked when Aeromon and the other children had rescued him all those years ago. The scene had been buried with happier times after this, but now to see Kojiro in a similar and worse predicament, the scene with Shouta returned to him all over again.

He knew Kojiro was different. It had hurt to learn that Kojiro had been an evil human in his own world, but Aeromon still could not think badly of him. He still could see him as nothing other than a child so very much like Shouta. Inward, emotional, secretive. There seemed to always at least be one in a group of children that came to the digital world, but Aeromon had seen no human during those times after Shouta and his friends went home until now.

Kojiro stopped as he looked out over the picturesque spot Aeromon had brought him. He looked along the bank, at the trees and the mist, and listened to the quiet sound of the reeds blowing in the gentle breeze just picking up.

"It's a peaceful place to be for a while," said Aeromon encouragingly, and was about to say more when Neamon suddenly cried out, "Cannonball!"

And with a great leap, Neamon rolled into a ball and crashed into the water. When he resurfaced he blew water out his mouth like a pout and kicked up contentedly, floating on his back with arms behind his head.

Staring at Neamon a moment, Kojiro then turned to Aeromon.

"You'll be alright," said Aeromon. "You will. You'll see. It won't be long until you'll be alright, I promise you."

Kojiro shook his head.

"Other humans have gone through what you have and worse," said Aeromon, "and they've been alright."

"Yes, I know, like Ken," murmured Kojiro. "The first Digimon Kaiser. I know, I know, _I know_. Everyone keeps telling me that," his voice turned to a hiss, "but you don't know me! You don't know who I am. I'm not some, innocent, little boy."

"Ken was hardly innocent by that time," replied Aeromon. "He had free access to both this world and his own, and came here willingly to destroy this world."

Kojiro sighed very heavily and turned away. "I want to believe you," he said slowly, "but …" His voice trailed off, and he slumped onto the ground at the foot of a tree on a rise along the bank.

He hardly relaxed there a few moments before a sound came from behind them, and Aeromon, still perched in the tree saw who it was before either Neamon or Kojiro. The one who was coming also saw Aeromon, and she glared dangerously.

"What weird things are you putting in Kojiro's head?" she demanded.

Kojiro stiffened as Musashi leapt through the weeds. Upon seeing Kojiro, she let out a gasp of relief.

"Oh, there you are!" she cried, and ran to his side. "Kojiro, what are you doing out here?"

"Going for a walk! Don't you feel less grumpy?" called Neamon pleasantly before diving otter-like back into the water.

Musashi completely ignored him, and stepped back a pace to allow Kojiro to rise to his feet, which he did soon after.

"You went outside," she said.

"Yeah, so?" muttered Kojiro.

Aeromon could not help but wince as he watched, waiting to see where the situation would lead. Whenever those two were together it usually did not end up in much else but Musashi yelling at him again. By the look in Kojiro's eyes, it seemed that Kojiro was aware of this too, and was not at all looking forward to it.

"Then why don't we go now?" said Musashi. "We can leave! I mean, you're better, right?"

Looking away, Kojiro said nothing, only biting his lip and twiddling his fingers.

"Kojiro!" Musashi gasped. "What's wrong with you?!"

"Musashi," said Aeromon suddenly, clearing his throat. "He's been going through a lot, you know, and you yelling at him—"

"I'm not talking to you," Musashi said with a sniff as she threw a hot glance in his direction. She paused. "And I wasn't YELLING!" she screamed before returning to Kojiro.

Aeromon sighed.

"Leave Aeromon out of this!" snapped Kojiro.

"That's what I'm trying to do, you idiot!" exclaimed Musashi.

Kojiro cringed, and quickly covered his head to brace himself anyway he could against a large welt.

Growling fiercely, Musashi stomped her foot instead of smacking him. Then she said quite resolutely and a bit like old times, "Let's stop wasting time, Kojiro! We have a job to do, remember? We can't stick around here! We have to go home! Don't you want to go back home!?"

"I don't know …" Kojiro squeaked.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW!?" Musashi screamed.

This was when Neamon appeared on the scene.

"Oh, don't be so grumpy!" he said, and smiled as he held up a finger like the lighting of a light bulb. "I know what will cheer you up!"

Cringing, Kojiro leapt back as again Neamon pounded his head on the ground.

Bonk!

Bonk!

Bonk!

Bonk!

Musashi's jaw dropped in disbelief, sweat drops now forming on everyone's heads.

"What's the matter with him?" asked Musashi quite bewildered, and temporarily distracted for the moment, which at least somewhat accomplished Neamon's goal.

"I'm trying to make you feel better!" exclaimed Neamon.

But it did not last. Spinning around back to Kojiro, she crossed her arms and glared expectantly.

Kojiro gulped.

"Stop being an idiot, Kojiro!" said Musashi. "And let's just get out of this crazy place! Kojiro … come on …"

But suddenly Kojiro was not cowering. He leered back at Musashi, which in itself was not exactly unusual, but what was rather out of the ordinary was that a moment afterward he marched right up to Musashi with a resoluteness not seen often in him. Then he spoke, and regardless of what he spoke, the manner in which he spoke was something so new to Musashi that she instantly stopped and found herself forced to listen at least for the tone's sake.

"What, so you can beat the crap out of me over every little thing?" he demanded.

Musashi jumped in spite of herself.

"So we can go flying off into the sunset after every time we lose to that kid and his stupid pikachu?" Kojiro demanded, louder and sterner still. He threw an arm up into the air to further emphasize the 'flying off' part. "So the boss can fire us for being such failures? Is that what?! Is it, Musashi?!"

For a moment, Musashi stared blankly, quite unable to respond to Kojiro behaving in such a way, again, really regardless of what he actually said, but after a while the words sank in, and Musashi's look of surprise pulled down into a very pinched and distorted scowl.

"_Hugh_—!" she barely squeaked at first, but she soon found her usually voice again. "How _dare_ you talk to me like that!?"

"Why not, your highness?" snapped Kojiro. "You can't just order people around! What gives you the right?"

"Don't change the subject!" Musashi cried. "This is about going home! And if that's what you think of Team Rocket, you have another thing coming!"

"I owe nothing to Team Rocket!" Kojiro cried back. "They owe _me_ stuff! They owe me health insurance for every single _yana_ _kanji_!"

"Oh, would you stop with that stupid _yana kanji_!" Musashi growled.

"No! I hate it! I hate it! I _hate_ it! I never want _yana kanji_ ever AGAIN!" His voice was near a shriek by this time.

"You're nothing but a big, spoiled baby!" screamed Musashi. "That's what you are! I don't even know why I feel sorry for you! You're nothing but a stupid, spoiled, good for nothing, soft-headed, wimpy, poshy milksop! And a sorry excuse for a Team Rocket agent! A sorry excuse for a partner! You should go back home to your big estate crying to your mommy where you belong! Y—you—you _fop_! I HATE you, Kojiro!"

Kojiro stopped as if he had been suddenly struck. A slap in the face would not have hurt him more, and he stared at Musashi in utter disbelief with the look of a wounded puppy.

Musashi instantly regretted what she had said, but it was too late to take it back. Breathing heavily, for she had hardly paused to take a breath while she had yelled at him, she could not bear to look at him and turned sharply away, a stubborn pout growing on her face. It soon fell away though as she felt hot tears building in her eyes.

She would not let herself cry. Not in front of Kojiro. Not in front of the gaping Neamon or Aeromon who suddenly dove in on the scene. She would not listen to him. She would not allow him to speak. Him, Kojiro, or Neamon. She stomped away with a great huff and did not once look behind her.


	23. Black Hole

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Black Hole

"_Community service?!" Team Rocket gasped._

"_They can't do that to us, nya!" cried Nyaasu._

"_Yeah!" agreed Musashi. "We're Team Rocket!"_

"_We refuse to do community service!" said Kojiro, crossing his arms, staunchly. "We have dignity!"_

"_You do community service," replied __Junsar-san__ stiffly with a swing of a bobby pin, "Or you go straight to prison, the both of you."_

"_What about me, nya?" asked Nyaasu._

"_Probably a pokémon pound of sorts," said Junsar-san, "but I'm not in charge of those things, so I'm not sure."_

_There was a sulky pause._

"_So, what's it going to be?" Junsar-san demanded._

_There was not much of a choice, but Kojiro had to ask hesitantly, "And, uh, community service for how long?"_

_Junsar-san sighed and rubbed her temple._

"_A very long time," she said. "That was a lot of pokémon you two attempted to steal. Not to mention the property damage, insulting authority, attacking civilians, and this is just when we caught you here. We haven't even looked entirely through your criminal records, but we're working on that. Believe me it's extensive. I'm guessing it'll be community service for at least ten years."_

_Team Rocket gasped and cringed._

"_Ten years, nya!" Nyaasu cried._

"_And that's lenient," Junsar-san pointed out._

_With a deflated sigh, Team Rocket went to their punishment, but the scene changed. The police station diminished, and a soft wood erupted. A soft wood right out of Kanto. It had to be. That lovely island region as plain as it was, looked like a vacation paradise in comparison to where Musashi had been before … and uh, where had she been before. She could not remember …_

_The next thing Musashi knew she was standing in front of a small shack of a house. A little walkway led up to the round, charming fairy-tale door, but all quaintness left after that. It was a forlorn little place with chipped white paint, and little furnishing. The weeds grew high, and the windowpanes long stained. All this from lack of care, yet someone did live here. Musashi was not sure she knew how she knew, but she knew, and the worst thing about it was that it reminded her slightly of a little house she had used to know as a little girl, a house that to think of now made her strangely homesick._

_She brushed the feeling aside, and walked straight up to the door, knocking lightly upon it._

_No one answered._

_She knocked again, louder this time and listened._

_Someone was inside moving around in there; she could hear it._

_This time she banged the door very hard with her fist, and who should abruptly open the door but Nyaasu._

"_Nya!" he cried, jumping back a little. "Musashi?! What are you doing here?!"_

"_What do you mean what am I doing here?!" Musashi snapped. "What are you doing here?" She paused and noticed how very plump Nyaasu was, and she paused, glaring down at his round body before she returned to his face. "How long have you been here?" she wanted to know, and after a second pause, she said, "and what exactly have you been stuffing yourself with?"_

"_Uh … I haven't gone anywhere since you left," Nyaasu began; he completely ignored the last question. "But me and your daughter …" _

_The scene fizzed out, and Musashi returned to the city suddenly where community service had not been forgotten._

_Piles of trash were shoved into bags as the grumpy trio in orange uniforms used little poker stick to pick up the crap off the park grounds. Not a speck of litter was to remain here, and they had better not slack off._

"_I hate this!" Musashi growled._

"_I hate this more than you do, nya!" Nyaasu hissed._

"_But if we stay on good behavior …" Kojiro started._

"_It's not going to happen," muttered Musashi. "It's only been a week and I don't know how much more good behavior I can stand!"_

_Nyaasu stopped, and then smiled. "Then let's just leave," he said._

"_How are we going to do that?" Kojiro complained._

"_I have a plan, nya!"_

_Although she never heard the phrase "community service" again, she never remembered what Nyaasu's plan had been or how they had escaped. All she remembered next was Nyaasu on the doorstep again, but he did not remain there long. Musashi had him by the scruff and was shaking him violently._

"_What do you mean 'daughter'!? I don't have a daughter!"_

"_Nya! Nya! Nya!" Nyaasu cried._

"_And even if I did, I wouldn't leave her alone with a fat, stupid Nyaasu teaching her to be a pickpocket for your gain!"_

"_But you haven't. Even. Been. Here!" Nyaasu said in between shakes._

_Musashi dropped him on the ground._

"_Nya …" Nyaasu moaned._

"_What are you talking about?" she demanded._

"_You're working for Team Rocket. You don't have time to be here for her."_

Time to be here for her …

_Before Musashi could react the scene phased out again, and she suddenly felt very small and helpless as a very tall lovely woman made her way for a door._

"_No, wait!" Musashi cried, in a voice so young and frantic._

_The woman turned and with a smile, she squatted down so as to be level with the little girl as she leapt onto her as tightly as she could. The woman stroked Musashi's hair gently and kissed her on the head. Miyamoto. That was her name. The pride of old Team Rocket. The vile fiend of an agent. Her only soft spot was this little secret. The little secret that was Musashi._

"_Don't leave!" Musashi begged; she could not help the tears that began to fall._

"_You know that I can't stay," said Miyamoto, although gentle, she spoke quite seriously. "I love you more than anything in the world, but I can't."_

_She never lied to Musashi about anything. She told Musashi who and what she was. That she was a Team Rocket agent. That she stole, lied, cheated, and tricked. Musashi did not care. How could she care? She really did not even understand. How could she? It was just a job. A dangerous job, yes. Somebody had to do it, Musashi supposed. But why did her mother have to leave her?_

"_I won't be gone forever," Miyamoto promised, gracing the little head with one last kiss, and she gave her a strong hug. "Be brave, Musashi. Be brave."_

"_I promise," said Musashi._

_Musashi's world darkened, and she found herself no longer at that doorstep or the doorstep where she had seen Nyaasu._

"_Musashi!"_

_Musashi suddenly looked up, and when she did she let out a cry of surprise to find herself on a building, quite precariously it might be added, and quite high up. She would have fallen right off after the shock if her partner had not grabbed her just then by the arm and pulled her back against the window._

_It was night, and only the lights of the city below lit the scene where she stood, for the windows of the building were all completely darkened save for a few on the first floor, many stories down._

_They were breaking in; Musashi had no doubt about that. To steal pokémon. That's right. Sure, she knew that. Oh, and her outfit had been updated. Nice! Black, sleek, a little more cat burglar-esque, perhaps. Very nice! Oh! And equipment! A utility belt. Even better! She was back in the boss's favor! That was it, she remembered. She had been given one last chance and had succeeded in earning back her place._

_She looked up at her partner, but the smile that had formed on her face quickly dissipated as she saw that Kojiro was not the one who returned her smile. It was another partner. A man she had never seen._

_Where was Kojiro?_

_Where had he gone?_

_Where was Nyaasu? Was he still with her daughter?_

_Wait, if she had a daughter, who had she married?_

_How had they escaped community service? Their punishment?_

"_Where's my team!?" she screamed._

_Were they in prison as Junsar-san had warned?_

_Blackness like the back of a wing flashed past._

_It had been a wing._

_Musashi looked up, and watched the wingull fly off with a mournful cry._

"_He hasn't gone anywhere since you left him, Musashi, nya," said Nyaasu sadly. He was standing by her side as fat as ever, but it was for the first time that she noticed the sign of age on him. At first she did not even listen to what he said; she merely had to stare at the lines of red which often slowly crept up under the eyes of the aged cat. She noticed his fur lacked a certain luster it had once possessed. Even his paws showed signs of wear where his claws went in and out over years of use. Nyaasu did not notice her stare and continued to talk. "He hasn't gotten any better. I don't think he ever will. The only thing that even makes him brighten up a little is when she comes to visit. At least, that's what they say, nya."_

"_Who visits? Who says?" Musashi demanded. "Nyaasu. You're not making any sense! You're freaking me out! Stop it!"_

"_You're _daughter_, nya!" Nyaasu snapped in return in a voice that had the slightest pinch of age lingering in it, and he began a march towards the strange, brick building in front of them._

"_I don't have a daughter!" snapped Musashi in return._

"_Fine, nya," Nyaasu said, and he pushed open the door, allowing Musashi in first, "have it your way, but you wouldn't want her to hear that would you? Besides you nya-med her after your mother."_

"_I … did?" asked Musashi hesitantly. She twiddled her fingers before going inside after Nyaasu's leading paw; he did not seem to hear her squeak._

_After a moment or two of walking down the long white hall inside Musashi abruptly stopped._

_Where were they?_

_The smell of synthetic material and disinfectants and cleaners and other chemicals were very strong in the air. The walls and the floor were so sterile they gleamed, and Musashi could even make out some of her reflection. The place was so still too. So lifeless. So overly hygienic. She would have thought this was a hospital except that hospitals were far busier. Was this a school then and everyone was in class?_

Don't tell me my daughter goes to school here_, Musashi thought in alarm._

_No! Wait she did not have a daughter._

_She turned sharply to Nyaasu, who was gaining speed ahead of her._

"_Nyaasu?" she whispered just before the cat was about to round a corner._

_Nyaasu turned around._

"_What are we doing here?" Musashi asked._

"_Uh …" Nyaasu said with raised brow, "unless I missed something, you came back home to see your husband. You didn't change your mind, nya?"_

_Musashi bit her lip. "You mean Kojiro, don't you," she said._

_A shiver ran down her spine as a strange chill overcame her._

_Leaning down then, she grabbed Nyaasu by the shoulders._

"_Nyaasu," she said in all earnestness. "Nyaasu. No more games. No more fooling around. Nyaasu. Humor me, okay! What happened to Kojiro? Why isn't he my partner anymore? Why isn't he with my … my daughter? What happened to him?"_

_Her heart began to speed up now and pound very hard within her chest as she searched Nyaasu's face for the answer even before she spoke, but by the look she received, she knew it was not going to be good._

"_Well," Nyaasu began, but Musashi was too impatient._

"_Nyaasu!" she cried._

"_Well, he—"_

"_Nyaasu!"_

"_He—"_

"_NYAASU!"_

"_NYA!" Nyaasu shouted._

_Musashi stopped, even going so far as to release the cat from her hold, and she sat back upon her knees right in the middle of the floor._

_Lowering her head, she murmured, "Is he here?"_

_Nyaasu nodded. "N-yeah. He's here. I told you, he's been here since you left him here. Since we didn't know what to do with him, nya …"_

"_What happened to him?" Musashi wanted to know._

_With a shake of his head, Nyaasu looked away._

"_You remember, nya," he said stiffly._

_Another flash appeared before Musashi, but this time, she was conscious of it, and she did not want to leave yet. No! She had to know. She had to know. Where was Kojiro? Where was he? It wasn't fair!_

_Then she saw him. She saw him beside her, but for a moment she forgot why she had been so concerned._

_He was where he always was — by her side. In fact, who cared about what Kojiro did at the moment? Today, happened to be a very good day! They had escaped Junsar-san a few years ago now. They had lain low for a while, yes, but they were back now, and better than ever!_

_Was there something back home? Yes, they had lived somewhere while staying low. They even got married. So this was not exactly like old times. She remembered the stolen dowry. She remembered the wedding cake, the flowers, and the ceremony. She had kissed Kojiro. For some reason the memory of that seemed awkward now. She also remembered that there had been an argument of some kind._

_Something about their daughter?_

_Who cares!?_

_Today was a good day. Today they had broke into a pokémon center. Strong, valuable pokémon were all theirs for the taking, and they had many sacks filled with pokéballs by this time as well as injured pokémon all on a sleigh like Santa's sleigh, except it was being pulled by a robotic pair of stantler with massive tread wheels that went surprisingly fast. To top it off too, the brat boy was nowhere in sight to stop them nor were any of his little friends._

_With a swish of her hair and a sweep of her arm, Musashi cried the last bit of the motto, "… Team Rocket travels to any star in the galaxy and …"_

"_A white hole, a white tomorrow is waiting for us!" announced Kojiro with TV show host grace._

"_Nyante Nya!" finished Nyaasu with a bound in front of the pair._

_Musashi laughed in triumph, and she looked down with disdain at the tied up trainers and nurse._

_But there was a pokémon they had missed._

_No, a trainer they had missed._

_Team Rocket had been so busy congratulating themselves outside the pokémon center in the snow that they did not notice the pokémon getting free. They did not notice until they fell off the sleigh with a jolt from the moving sacks beneath them. Faces full of snow came next, and the agents moaned bitterly and shivered before popping back out again._

_The pokémon were angry. They started to attack. It was not unusual. Unfortunately. Yana kanji would come next, Musashi knew, but something else came first._

_She did not know what kind of pokémon it was. She had never seen this one before. No trainer ordered it to attack, but attack it did. And it was strong. Nothing hurt but their brains as the pokémon struck them. They did not even know they had been blasted into the air as they drooled and murmured unintelligible things. They …_

"Musashi?"

"_What?"_

_She was back with Nyaasu in the strange sterile hallway only now a man dressed in equally sterile soft green stood with them. The green reminded Musashi mint toothpaste._

"_He's very easily upset now," said the man._

_Musashi winced strangely. "What?" she said._

"_I mean," said the man, clearing his throat, "that you may be his wife, but as you haven't come for so long, he might react badly, and once he's upset there's no stopping him."_

"_Just let me see him already!" Musashi snarled._

_The man jumped with fright, and bowed his head. "I apologize, Musashi-san."_

"_Yeah, whatever; just take me to him. I can't stand this anymore."_

_The door flung open, and she peered inside. A round, white room. At first she did not see Kojiro, she was so surprised by the strange, smooth white bubble of a space. A TV played stupid snack commercials on one side. A desk with a few scattered books and papers rested on the other, but what struck her was the picture of a little girl, which looked eerily like herself as a child, save that her eyes were green. The color of Kojiro's eyes._

_Musashi could not help but shudder._

_A plain little bed lay not far from this, and along the wall, which was otherwise blank, she saw windows with shades, but these shades were roughly being pulled down._

_She jumped back._

"_Kojiro?" she demanded._

_Kojiro, or at least the strange creature she knew to be him, was nothing more than a crooked little man. He was not extremely old, maybe in his forties, but he looked so awful even before she saw his face that might have taken him for eighty or ninety. If it had not been for the Team Rocket uniform and the lavender hair (although longer and crazier than usual), she might not have known him at first. But with his back to her, Kojiro ripped down the shades, all the while muttering shakily to himself._

_When the shades were down it was almost as if they did not exist. As if the entire window had vanished with only solid white wall taking its place._

"_They're coming to get me, they're coming, they're coming. I can't let them see me." He sounded quite deranged._

_Carefully Musashi stepped into the room. "Kojiro …"_

_Kojiro turned around, a ghastly mess of a human being. His face was sunken in, his eyes very puffy and red. He was a complete wreck._

"_Musashi …" whispered the strange voice from Kojiro. He dropped like stone to his knees. "You … you … you came back for me …" His voice could barely be heard now, and his sickly grin, was more horrible that his wide-eyed surprise._

_Unable to look at him, Musashi squeezed her eyes shut._

"_Yes," she said, nodding vigorously. "Yes, I came back for you. I …"_

"_I thought … you hated me," said Kojiro._

"_I … did," Musashi said, and she shook her head, opening her eyes again bravely. "Kojiro what are you doing here?"_

_Only after she spoke this last phrase did it dawn on her that this was an asylum. A mental institution. The nut house!_

_Kojiro gulped. "I have to be protected!" he insisted, throwing a wary look over his shoulder before looking back at Musashi with an animal-like cock of his head. "They'll be after me. I have to be here."_

"_Who will be after you; what are talking about?" Musashi demanded._

_She felt a tap on her boot and looked down at Nyaasu shaking head and waving his hands as an indication to stop._

"_Musashi, no," he whispered. "Don't get him started."_

_She ignored him._

_Instead she ran to Kojiro and shook him roughly on the shoulders. "Kojiro! What happened to you? Tell me!" She could not help the tears that began streaming down her face. "Please tell _me! What happened to you?!"

_"I—" Kojiro squeaked, staring with eyes so large they might just as well have popped out of his head. "I don't remember." He suddenly looked terrified, and a violent shudder struck his body. "Is something wrong with me?"_

_Musashi screamed._

_"Yes, yes, there's something wrong with you! Kojiro, what happened?" she demanded._

The fight!

_She saw the fight. She saw the little shack. She saw a four year old girl out of the corner of her eye peeping out from behind her bedroom door._

"_She'll be fine!" snapped Musashi. "It's not like we're abandoning her! We'll be back! We can't pass this up! The plan is brilliant!"_

"_N-yeah, brilliant!" cried younger, slimmer Nyaasu._

_Musashi kicked Nyaasu aside. "I'm not talking to you!" she snapped, and turned back to Kojiro, looking sulkily stubborn with arms crossed over his chest._

"_But Musashi!" he complained. "How can we do that to her? We promised! We promised to make her life happy!"_

"_I didn't promise to give up Team Rocket!"_

"_I didn't say anything about Team Rocket!" cried Kojiro. "But we can't do this now! We can't! We …" he lowered his eyes. "She's … so innocent …" he barely breathed the words. "I love her …"_

_Musashi had made Kojiro go. Kojiro always listened to Nyaasu and Musashi in the end. They made him go as they always did._

_Back in the sterile room. That white whole. That white tomorrow. _

_Yes, Kojiro had never fully recovered from the attack of that stupid pokémon at that stupid Pokémon Center. Musashi and Nyaasu had awaked from their stupor to find that Kojiro would never be the same. The attack had destroyed his mind. The plan that was doomed to failure anyway cost Kojiro the rest of his life, and it was all Musashi's fault. In her guilt, she buried him here. She could not face what had happened; she could not face_ him_. She went back to Team Rocket HQ. She got new orders, a new partner and never came to visit Kojiro. She rarely even visited her daughter, and she hoped now not to face the child that brought on the fight in the first place._

_Kojiro got his white tomorrow._

_He was now sobbing at Musashi's feet. His arms were wrapped tightly around her ankles, and tears streamed down his face. He was nothing but a crazy, writhing wreck. He lost it. He was screaming insanely then and could not be stopped. Reaching out her hands comfortingly, she began to stroke his hair and rub his shoulders trying desperately to soothe him, but he would not be made better._

_The guards began to pull Musashi away._

"_No! NO!" she screamed. "Let me stay with him! Let me stay! I can help him! I can!"_

"_You'll only make it worse," the doctor said. "You'll only …"_

_The white hole sank into darkness. Everything became blurred and distorted. And Kojiro was lost in the vastness of the chaotic vacuum of space. Only his wild, echoing screams remained. The white hole turned to a black one, and when anything gets sucked into a black hole it is never seen again._

#

Musashi leapt up gasping desperate for breath, sweat dripping all over her. She spun around.

Behind her head, Nyaasu slept soundly in his hammock with soft kitty snores. Next to her feet at the corner of the room, Kojiro's feet stuck out of the blanket along the wall; his head could not be seen in the mess of blankets. He was sleeping very heavily too.

Still trying to ease her panting and slow her heart pounding frantically in her ears, she closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall with a heavy sigh.

It had been a dream!

Just a dream.

A terrible, horrible, disgustingly stupid dream.

But the images still lingered strongly in her mind, forcing her to open her eyes again. She had to see him. She had to see Kojiro all right.

Crawling off of her mat, she crept over to the next wall and peered over Kojiro's shoulder. His hair covered most of his face, but she could see him relatively normal behind that mess of hair. She was about to reach out and touch him. Hug him even and very tightly, but she dared not wake him, even if it was only to keep him from seeing her in such a state so distressed over a stupid dream. She would have hated explaining that she was worked up because of a nightmare.

Kneeling down, she let out a sigh and closed her eyes again.

"I don't hate you, Kojiro," she whispered. "I don't. I don't. I don't. You know that, don't you? Please tell me you know that. I want you to be okay. Please, Kojiro, be okay, and tell me everything can go back to the way it was."

She turned away and crawled back into bed. Pulling up her covers, she closed her eyes once more with thoughts all consumed by Kojiro, but he thoughts were suddenly broken.

Lifting her head to the window, she leered. She had thought she had heard something on the windowsill, but there it proved empty now. Holding her breath, she waited and listened, but nothing happened.

Musashi settled back down under her covers, and after a while she fell back asleep.


	24. Musashi

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:

MUSASHI

_Kojiro may have been named for no other reason than it's sound, but Musashi was definitely named very purposefully. Her mother's name was Miyamoto. It would only be fitting for the daughter to be named Musashi, the surname of the ancient warrior, not that she was much of a warrior any more than Kojiro was in the normal sense of the word, but she fought like one in her own way. She fought the world. We all did!_

_Nya._

_She had not always wanted to be an agent of Team Rocket, but she had always been a part of it. Kojiro was born upper crust. I was born a … well, I don't know exactly, nya, but Musashi was not born a nobody anymore than she was the daughter of some nobleman. You could say she was born a princess of thieves, but what she definitely was, was the daughter of one of the finest Team Rocket agents the world has ever known, back when Team Rocket was run by the boss's lucky old mommy._

_But Miyamoto … nya, she died. MIA, then found dead. Died on duty, a true Rocketer till the end, nya!_

_Musashi was left orphaned. She never says anything about her father. Maybe he died before she knew him. Anyway, she grew up in foster care with no friends. I suppose that does something to a person, but from what I can see, she started out wanting to be good. I mean, anyone who wants to be a nurse, as stupid a method of obtaining that goal had been (going to Chansey school, I mean there had to be some school that was for humans somewhere that she could go to, right? Maybe not a pokémon nurse, nya). But, hey, at least she proved she was persistent. Not that anyone ever denied that. When she failed at everything she wanted to be, eventually she ironically came crawling back to the place of her roots, and was determined, more than ever not to fail this last time. For her, it must have been her last chance at life. If she failed this, she had nothing!_

_Persistent, tough, angry, an emotional wreck … well, both she and Kojiro were emotional wrecks. And you know, come to think of it, maybe that's why they made such good partners, nya! I wonder if it's a requirement for field agents. Cuz also, come to think of it, I don't think I've met a Team Rocket field agent who wasn't at least a little bit of an emotional wreck. I mean, just look at Kosanji — I — I mean Kosaburo and Yamato — they actually copy Kojiro and Musashi's motto. If that doesn't prove emotional wreckness, then I don't know what does (not to mention "Kosanji"! Nya!_

_But the thing about Musashi is this, when you reached her soft spot, when you touched something you weren't supposed to (well, besides getting a fist in your face and going deaf from female screaming) you could easily see in that split second in her hurt, lost eyes before she whopped you a good one that through all the Team Rocket gruff, through all the toughness, maybe she would have been better off a nurse, even a chansey nurse. Maybe that's why she made such a weird, over-the-top villain. Maybe she was just trying to keep proving to herself how bad she was, and how much she did not need compassion or softness._

_Even though Kojiro is more open with his feelings as a whole, I think Musashi really is more sensitive, maybe even more emotional, and she had no control whatsoever. This is what made her so vulnerable when we found Kojiro. That's what made her so dangerous …_

#

Musashi kicked a stone as hard as she could out across the gravel path and into the weeds. With a slow turn back to the tanemon village down the way she had come from, her eyes locked onto the main hall where she knew Kojiro and Nyaasu were having a warm breakfast of miso soup. She had taken a few spoonfuls but had decided that she did not want to eat inside. So, taking up her bowl, she slipped out here.

Even simply outside the hall was not good enough either; she had to be away from the whole village for a while. The whole place stifled her. She needed space and some air away from pestering digimon, unwell companions, and "Musashi-san this" and "Musashi-san that!" Oh, she was getting so sick of being called Musashi-san by those little digimon.

The half eaten bowl of soup now rested on the ground and had quite lost its warmth by now.

The morning was chilly, but Musashi had been out in colder weather just fine and without a coat and hat too.

After hounding Kojiro for days, she could not bear to look at him anymore. She had barely spoken to him since she had said the awful thing. When she had said, among other mean things, that she hated Kojiro.

She didn't hate Kojiro …

The wind played with her hair as if in an attempt to cheer her up, but she, like her partners, had those same moments of wanting to be sulky. It was better than facing Kojiro. She was not sure how she was going to apologize to him yet, or at least how to tell him how much she did not mean what she had said. Her heart yearned to make up with him, she hated thinking that Kojiro might still think she hated him, even though she knew deep down that Kojiro would know she didn't, but still …

Musashi kicked another stone.

"Oh!" she growled angrily, and she slumped down on a large rock.

Her chin dropped in her palm, her elbow on her knee, and she looked with a grumpy pout out at the village once more. After a moment or two, she let her face loosen from its tight grimace, and she closed her eyes while letting out a loud moan.

"What's the matter, _bishojo_? …" a strange voice asked from behind her.

Had that air suddenly become colder?

An icy chill did run down her spine, and jumping to her feet, she spun around.

"What?!" Musashi demanded, and her eyes soon narrowed in upon the strange digimon perched in the tree.

His teeth were very large, and his claws larger, much like a lot of digimon, except this one had an annoying cheek about him that Musashi did not like. Even before he had a chance to speak again, she had a strong urge to throw a rock at him.

"How—!" Musashi squeaked, but clearing her throat, she achieved the proper demanding tone. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Just long enough to see how sad you are," said the digimon, who, if you haven't guessed, was picodevimon, and his grin grew wider. "You okay?"

"I'm not in the mood to talk to stupid digimon!" Musashi growled, her fists shaking uncontrollably at her sides, "especially ugly, little freak, stupid digimon like you."

"Hey, _bishojo_, it's okay," said Picodevimon, still perched on his branch, and seemingly unaware of the insults. "I understand. You don't want to be here. I mean, you don't belong here, anyway. You're human, we're digimon, and bad things happen whenever humans come here."

"Hmm."

"It's funny," said Picodevimon with a careless shrug, "that they think the humans come here to save them when it's really the humans that cause the disturbances in the first place. Like with your poor friend …"

"You don't know anything about Kojiro," Musashi warned, but she did not feel like getting angry now. She looked away sulkily and slumped back down on her rock, where she started swirling her cold soup on the ground with her spoon. "It feels like we'll never get home. I hate being here. Just shoo. I told you I'm not in the mood."

"Even if they did know the way out, they wouldn't tell you," said Picodevimon.

Once again Musashi was up on her feet.

"_What_?!" she demanded in a shrill voice near screaming. "What are you talking about? Answer me, you, you, whatever you are!"

"Picodevimon," said Picodevimon with about a regal a bow as his round body allowed, "at your service, _bishojo_."

"Call me that again, and I'll kick you," Musashi muttered. "Tell me, you baseball with wings!"

"The digimon you've been hanging about with," said Picodevimon with an ever widening grin, "will never let you go home until you've defeated the viruses, and since you aren't supposed to be here, that'll never happen."

"I knew it," said Musashi, and turning abruptly, she made to march back for the village.

"Whoa!" cried Picodevimon, and he dove off his branch and flew to the ground in front of her.

Musashi tried to kick him, but in a flutter, he just barely got out of the way before landing on her rock.

"Wait a minute, human! I haven't told you the good news, though!"

"What good news?" Musashi demanded. "As far as I'm concerned, you're just a creep, and I want nothing to do with you."

"Is the fact that I know the way out of the digital world, good enough news for you, _bishojo_?" Picodevimon demanded.

Musashi bit her lip and stared. "I … I don't believe you," she said resolutely, and then she tried to kick him again.

"Wah!" cried Picodevimon, leaping upward. "stoppit!"

"Go away, you freak!" Musashi snapped and actually did manage to bop him on the head with her fist.

Picodevimon let out a yelp and groaned.

"Fine," he grumbled, wincing from the pain but trying very hard to ignore it, "But if you stay with them, you'll never see your world again."

In spite of herself, Musashi gulped.

She stared down at the village now looking quite ominous, and a fear grew in the pit of her stomach. Really, it was a fear that had been there all along. The dread of being the only humans in a strange world where she and Kojiro were the aliens. A place where no one could be trusted and everything was to be feared. She and Kojiro were alone, and with Kojiro not well, she felt even more alone, and somehow right now, Nyaasu did not count. Even the wind now felt ominous, and she shivered just a little before leering back at Picodevimon.

"Do you really know the way out?" she demanded.

She hated the thought of leaving Kojiro in the hands of those digimon, but she would not bring Kojiro into this situation until she knew this was not some kind of trick or moronic brain malfunction on the digimon's part.

"Sure I do, _bishojo,_" said Picodevimon with a nod, and before Musashi could swing her fist at him, he flew back up into a tree. "Come on, you really are beautiful, you know that? The digital world must be in awe of you."

Musashi straightened herself haughtily. "I don't need flattery, freak," she said.

"Of course not," agreed the digimon, "because besides being lovely you seem to be a very independent, young woman."

Releasing a heavy sigh, Musashi crossed her arms and nodded, "Yes, I suppose I am. So get a move on and show me."

"Yes, human-san," said Picodevimon.

"Musashi!"

As Picodevimon began flying down the road, he called back, "Musashi-san!"

So with an air of continued pride, Musashi with a whip of her hair, started after the creepy, little digimon; though, not without one last look down at the village.

She would be back soon, she told herself. Any chance of getting out of this place was worth taking! They were not staying here forever, after all, and as Musashi disappeared over the hill and down into the valley, she was already contemplating her return to her own world with her partners.

Team Rocket would be back in action before long. The brat and his little pals would not be expecting them now after they had been gone for so long. Of course, finding the brat might be a tad difficult, but this little setback hardly daunted Musashi. Until they found the stupid kid, they could sack other places along the way without his interference. Maybe they could capture a good, strong pokémon of some kind. Something that was not affected by electricity. Like a rock pokémon! Then they could catch Pikachu no problem.

Wait, water pokémon could defeat the rock, couldn't it? There was usually plenty of water pokémon around that boy.

Musashi thought a moment.

Team Rocket was not honest. They lived for dishonesty! Something like a protective lather of paste might protect the rock from the water. Of course if they were going to go through all that trouble they may as well just go with a robot to protect all of them from the electricity. Not that those worked very well for some reason.

Meh, she would figure something out with the help of her partners.

She waved a hand aside.

And once they were back in their own world, she had no doubt that Kojiro would be back to normal. A nice food burglary and a good normal meal on some rooftop or alley would have his spirits back up in no time!

Leering up at Picodevimon, who had landed on a broken wooden post that had once been a sign, she demanded, "How far is it?"

They had been walking some time.

"A couple hours from here, Musashi-san."

"Where?" Musashi asked.

"Just down through those caves," said Picodevimon, pointing with a wing. "See them?"

Squinting against the sun, she scanned through the haze in this open spot in the forest. She thought she could just barely make out a rock formation of some kind. With a nod, she turned back to Picodevimon.

"Yeah, I see them."

Off they started again, but as they continued to on their way, she found that what she had seen had been nothing more than a rocky hill, and she turned roughly to Picodevimon who landed lightly on a tree branch.

"What's wrong, _bishojo_?"

"Where are the caves?" she demanded.

"Like I said, the caves are a few hours away," said Picodevimon.

Musashi frowned. "No," she hissed, feeling her temper rise. "You said that the _exit_ was a few hours away."

"Phsah!" snorted the digimon. "I said no such thing!"

"You did!" snapped Musashi. "I heard you."

"Then if I did I made a mistake," grumbled Picodevimon. "What, don't humans ever make mistakes?"

"Well, digimon sure do," Musashi retorted with a huff, and she paused, before saying, "So the caves are a few hours away. How far away is the exit?"

"Oh," sighed Picodevimon, scratching his back with a foot reaching behind him. "I'd have to say at least a day for human walking. We should be there by tomorrow morning."

With slumping shoulders, Musashi ordered Picodevimon to lead her on.

"You're so prompt, Musashi-san, so about getting things done! I like that!" exclaimed Picodevimon, flying not too far ahead.

"I don't care what you like," muttered Musashi.

"A woman who thinks for herself!" cried the digimon. "I like that too!"

"What, you wanna marry me?" Musashi scoffed.

"Pshah, human!" was the return reply.

So, on they went for hours. Picodevimon offered some berries to eat on a large leaf, and he held it as if he were a waiter or even a servant of royalty before the lady.

"For you, Musashi-san," cooed Picodevimon.

Musashi snatched the platter leaf away and ate. Her patience was wearing quite thin, and if she did not see results soon, she was going to kick that thing clear to the disappointment she met with on File Island.

It was not until evening that they arrived at the caves. Musashi looked behind her as another shiver crept over her. Rubbing her arms, and staring into the darkening brush, she now wished she had waited to tell Kojiro and Nyaasu about this before she left. She kind of wished she had at least brought Nyaasu with her. He would have been better company than this stupid digimon. At least, he would have kept the situation lighter.

"Musashi-san?"

Musashi turned to the caves and Picodevimon.

"What?" she groaned.

"We should sleep here tonight," said Picodevimon. "It will be too dark in the caves to see now, and far too dangerous. We should wait until morning."

Musashi let out an exasperated growl. "I thought you said we'd reach the cave in a few hours!" she snapped. "It's been all day!"

"I'm sorry, Musashi-san," said Picodevimon. "I didn't know it would take this long, honest, but we're here now, and just think! Tomorrow you'll be able to see a glimpse into your world."

"Well, I can't just go in without Kojiro and Nyaasu," Musashi muttered. "Don't sometimes exits close up once their used? What if I can't go back for them?"

"Oh, right, of course!" laughed Picodevimon. His laugh made Musashi want to tie him up to a tree by the ears. "As soon as I show you the exit, then you can go back for your friends!"

"Partners," muttered Musashi as she scouted out a comfortable spot in which to spend the night.

"Partners," Picodevimon agreed.

Musashi paused to look at the disgusting creature for a moment. His unnerving grin was a mockery of a smile. She felt almost sick to look at it, so she turned away with a careless shrug.

"Freak," she grumbled.

She did not notice Picodevimon's grin widen, nor did she hear the whisper to himself about how easy it had been to ensnare this pathetic human.

#

"Where's the exit!?" screamed Musashi. "WHERE IS IT?!"

Picodevimon leapt higher into the tree where Musashi's fists would have no chance of reaching him.

"Hey, c'mon, Musashi-san," he said, treading his words carefully. "It … I just made a mistake!"

"You said we would find it tomorrow!" said Musashi. "Well! Here it is tomorrow afternoon! And now I'm lost in the woods, and it's all your fault!"

"You're not lost, Musashi-san!" exclaimed Picodevimon. "I can always bring you back."

"HA!"

"And besides, I must have got confused," said Picodevimon. "Yes, it would only take a day for me to get there on my wings."

"No!" snapped Musashi, thrusting up a knowledgeable pointer finger. "I specifically remember you saying that it took a _human _a day to get to the exit. You said! I heard you!"

"Wha —" cried the digimon innocently. "I must have made a mistake!"

"Oh, yes, you've made a mistake alright," said Musashi, and she let out what she considered to be quite a threatening laugh. "You made the mistake of messing with Musashi of Team Rocket, and now you're going down!"

In a flash, she reached for a pokéball. Arbok. She threw the ball as hard as she could.

"Go, Arbok, poison sting!"

Arbok emerged and obeyed the command of his master, lunging for the ugly little creature in the tree still quite dumfounded by the unanticipated action of Musashi.

With a surprised screech Picodevimon tried to leap away. He managed to miss a sting, but in the chaos the branch, upon which he again landed, broke out from under him, and he fell. Although, he might have caught himself and flown away, Musashi was intensely into the fight, and the second she saw him falling she gave another order, thrusting a hand towards him.

"Catch him, and squeeze him! Wrap!"

The pokémon again obeyed and quite neatly. In a moment he had Picodevimon tightly wrapped in his coils, and squeezed, the digimon's eyes nearly popping out of his head as he yelped in pain.

"Now maybe you'll think twice before messing with humans, freak," Musashi said with a sniff. Head held high and face hardened with prideful satisfaction, Musashi threw her hands on her hips and nodded to Arbok. "Poison sting again!" she yelled so hard, the order sounded hoarse in her throat.

However, at this moment, Picodevimon would not stand for anymore, and the second Arbok released him to poison sting him, he lashed out with an attack of his own.

"_Pico-dart_!" he snarled, eyes blazing with rage.

Neither Arbok nor Musashi had been at all prepared for an oncoming attack from the little adversary, especially the giant dart which flashed through the air. Musashi would not have pegged him as a creature very strong save with perhaps his teeth or claws, and maybe a leer attack or a small beam at the worst, but she had not been thinking at all of an opposing move, and certainly did not expect this. She watched wide-eyed as Arbok suddenly halted, eyes rolling back in his head, and he collapsed onto the ground with a thud.

Musashi gasped.

"What did you do?" she demanded, running to Arbok to inspect the dart which was still lodged in the neck of the pokémon.

Squatting down, she pulled it out; the liquid from within it had been totally drained out into her poor Arbok. Then she turned to Picodevimon with the most deadly leer she could manage.

Standing upright again, she returned Arbok and without a word, she released another ball. Picodevimon looked ready for another round, but Musashi would be more careful this time. She only had one chance left, after all.

Lickitongue emerged now, and even before he had fully been released, Musashi ordered, "Lick!"

Picodevimon made to attack again, but the tongue shot out quicker than his own move could come. Maybe the pokémon felt his master's intensity, but whatever the reason, his tongue shot out of his mouth so fast it moved like the tongue of a frog at a fly, and the moment the tongue touched Picodevimon, the battle was completely over.

"ACK!" cried the digimon, who himself had been unprepared for the dizzying, pricking, numbing effect of the attack. He fell to the ground.

"Lick him again," said Musashi.

Lickitongue obeyed.

"No!" screamed Picodevimon.

The only response he received was a smug grin on Musashi's part.

"Musashi-san!" Picodevimon cried with and ear piercing shriek as she gave the same order again.

"Again!" Musashi said.

"_Erk_!" cried Picodevimon. "_Please_! _I'm begging you_!"

Musashi shrugged. "Meh, Lickitongue, stand down," she said.

With a curious arch in his eye, Lickitongue look at his master in mid lick, and with a sound of consent, backed up a few paces. Then he looked down at the pitiful heap on the ground.

Leisurely, Musashi made her way up to the creature, ready to give him a good, hard kick.

The stupid thing, dragging her all the way out here for nothing! Well, this shows him right. If she had not already been proved that pokéballs had no affect on digimon, she would have captured him in a ball and saved him to give to the boss once she really did get out of this world, but things as they were, she would simply make sure he would never bother her again.

Eye-lids flickering, Picodevimon looked up at Musashi and moaned, but the second he saw the readying boot, he cowered and cringed, squeezing his eyes shut again. All the while, his numb body shook.

"Wait!" he cried, his voice no longer confident or smooth. Now he spoke with a sick, quavering voice.

"Give me one reason why I should?' demanded Musashi, but regardless of her words, she put her foot firmly back onto the ground.

With eyes lingering briefly on the boot to make certain it would not collide with his face, Picodevimon began, "Please, please, Musashi-sama." He lifted his eyes weakly, so very pitifully up at the human above him. "Please have mercy on a poor defenseless digimon.

"You didn't seem so defenseless a few minutes ago," Musashi pointed out, hardly moved by the pathetic display.

"Oh, Musashi-sama, please," sobbed the digimon, crawling before her feet and kissing the tops of her boots. "I'll do anything. Anything! Just please don't hurt me, oh, human from Team Rocket! Team Rocket must be a force to reckon with in your world. I'm humbled. Please Musashi-sama. I'm you're humble servant. Please forgive me my ill will."

"Mmmph," grumbled Musashi. "Stop groveling."

Lickitongue, who had been watching the scene quite bug-eyed, now looked up at Musashi with a cock of his head.

"Li?" he asked.

Picodevimon, still very shakily, moved back a little, looking up at Musashi in a way that almost reminded her of a demented Nyaasu in the doghouse in a way.

She sighed haughtily.

"Very well," she muttered with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "You're spared the fate of Team Rocket."

"Oh, thank you, Musashi-sama! Thank you!" the digimon cried and began to kiss her boots again, slobbering everywhere.

Only when Musashi lifted her boot up to kick him did the digimon back off again.

"And you say you'll do anything?" demanded Musashi.

"Yes, I can give you anything you want!" Picodevimon promised. "Food, shelter, a place to spend the night, fresh clothes, a bath, anything you want!"

Musashi raised a skeptical brow. "Anything, huh?" Her hands once more found their way on her hips as she considered the digimon's words. "Well," she muttered, putting a finger slowly to her lip. "I could really use a bath." She glanced again at Picodevimon. "And you don't know the way out of this world?" she asked lightly.

"Yes," admitted Picodevimon pitifully. "I do, but it's a long, long way from here. I'm sorry, Musashi-sama! Please forgive me!"

Closing her eyes with anger yet again building, Musashi muttered. "Lick him again."

"NO!" screeched Picodevimon, but Lickitongue gave him a good long lick. With a loud moan, the digimon quivered uncontrollably on the ground.

"Show me where I can spend the night," she said, leaning down over the wreck. "And if I'm impressed, I'll think about letting you go. If I'm not, I'm taking you back to the village."

Picodevimon just barely squeaked out a response of agreement.

"Good!" said Musashi quite satisfied now, and she smiled. "Lickitongue. We're following this idiot creature, and if he makes any bad moves, be ready to lick him again."

"Licki!" cried Lickitongue, nodding.

Musashi turned to Picodevimon.

"Now lead!" she growled. "And no sudden moves!"

#

Musashi gasped. She could not help it. She had expected some shack at the very most, but this? This charming cottage was set perfectly with little, square windows, flower boxes, brightly painted wooden sidings and a winding cobbled path leading up to it. Not to mention, the entire place looked in such good condition it glowed, and the flower gardens beyond were, although not of a variety she was aware of, were quite large and beautiful.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in spite of herself. "_Kawaii_!"

She might have went on to explain what she thought about it more if she had not then remembered who had brought her here. In the moment that she saw the cottage through the bushes, she had nearly forgotten that she was still in the digital world. Though, if there could be televisions sitting out in the middle of the desert, she supposed there could be clean, unused cottages that looked brand new.

A frown creased her face as she glanced down at Picodevimon skeptically.

"So," Musashi muttered. "Where did you get this?"

"Oh, it's not mine, Musashi-sama," laughed Picodevimon. "But the digimon who live here will have no problem letting you stay."

"And why's that?" she asked. Musashi even forgot to be angry with Picodevimon for calling her "sama" again. To be honest, she was getting used to it and even going so far as to feel that she rightly deserved the title from that stupid creature.

A wicked grin appeared on the digimon's face. "Let's just say I have a certain … influence around here."

"Hmmph," said Musashi with a shrug, glancing at Lickitongue who, once Musashi started towards the cottage, followed closely at her heals.

Fairy tale surroundings had Musashi stepping along the cobbled path rather hesitantly, or perhaps "bewildered" would be the more appropriate word. Looking above her, as she walked, at the swaying willow trees and smelling the scent of foreign but sweet flowers, she arched her neck up and even spun around once to get the full view of the trees before reaching the little door that barely reached higher than her head.

Once more, she looked down at the digimon beside her; he looked more than out of place in this veritable Disney-esque scene, but then she supposed she probably did too with her Team Rocket uniform, and her sharp, red hair, not at all like the soft dresses and soft hair of a Disney princess. Then she remembered that if she was in a Disney movie, she would not be the princess, she would probably be a villainess, which was what she was anyway, and so having this ugly creature beside her really was not so out of place after all.

Musashi let out a heavy sigh; she didn't know why, but for a moment the thought of being the villain of the story felt a bit heavy.

Soon she shook out of it, though as she asked, "So, do we knock?"

"Oh, no, Musashi-sama!" exclaimed Picodevimon almost in horror as he fluttered in front of the door, barring her way, and he shook his head violently. "No, no!" he cried again. "We are all your humble servants. Haven't you heard that humans in this world are to be paid with all due respect?"

Musashi crossed her arms.

"What about those viruses that want to kill us?" she wanted to know.

"Li," said Lickitongue, probably in reiteration to his master's gravity in her query, for he still did not quite understand the situation. How could he? Neither Musashi nor Kojiro had taken time to explain to their pokémon what was going on.

Picodevimon shrugged. "There's always going to be those who are jealous."

"I guess," sighed Musashi tersely, and she paused. "So, open the door, servant."

With a low bow, Picodevimon said, "At once, Musashi-sama."

And taking the handle of the door with his feet, he pulled and allowed Musashi inside.

There was a brief moment of doubt before Musashi entered.

A thought that tingled warningly down her spine and seemed to attempt to make her look back the way she had come. She thought of Kojiro. Kojiro, back at the tanemon village, laid on a mat a broken man. She hardly knew him anymore, except on the occasions when he acted like a big baby such as when he wouldn't let anyone clean off his bite and get rid of that filthy old bandage. He had been brainwashed, and who knew what else they had done. They could have tortured him for all she knew. Kojiro could not even speak of it without falling apart (not that it took much since they found him, but that was exactly the point). In this brief moment, Musashi thought that to trust this digimon might lead to a fate no different or worse than what had befallen her partner, and she looked behind her with longing though the swaying trees, which themselves seemed to beckon back to her friends.

"I bet you're really looking forward to that bath, Musashi-sama," chirped a cheerful voice at her feet.

"Hmm?" Musashi said. Snapping out of her thoughts, she blinked wide-eyed down at Picodevimon now standing in the doorway.

"I said," said the creature with another low bow, "you're probably anxious for the bath, oh, Musashi-sama."

All pessimism forgotten, Musashi stepped boldly into the cottage, which appeared much larger on the inside than on the outside, and completely holding herself up to her new title, she proudly motioned Picodevimon ahead of her.

"Lead the way to my bath, servant," she said.

"With pleasure!"

Lickitongue, on the other hand, did not look as convinced, and as he peered around at the charmingly wealthy surrounding, that although smaller, could have put Kojiro's family heirlooms to shame, he hesitated. Something just did not feel right, did not smell right, did not even look right, but Musashi could not see it. Lickitongue would not have gone in at all, if he had not almost lost sight of his master rounding a corner out of his sight.

"Licki!" he cried.

Flailing his stubby arms and waving his tongue in panic, he bumbled after her to keep Musashi from leaving him at the doorstep.


	25. The Fall of the Ashen Queen

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE:

The Fall of the Ashen Queen

Musashi let out the most pleasant sigh that she thought she had ever made. The steam which rose up from the tub and filled the little room gave off an atmosphere of security and serenity for this long needed and utterly deserved soak. With eyes closed and everything except her head completely submerged beneath in the frothy bubbles, she could not remember the last time she had felt so good. Although, quite absently, she began to hum quietly to herself in her contentment.

Even in her own world she rarely received such a treat as this. Usually she and Kojiro bathed wherever they could. In the river. In the pond. Sneaking into the pool showers when no one was looking. After all, Team Rocket had to look its best, and they cannot all lick themselves in emergencies as Nyaasu could. The only time she got to bathe like this was when they would break into the occasion vacationer's cabin off season, and even then she would be pestered for her turn to cease for the other two to have their baths.

With all thought completely pacified, she thought to herself how life certainly could not get much better than this. She even did not mind thinking that she would have to let Picodevimon go for this one. He certainly did keep his promise. This almost made up for him messing around with her earlier. Almost. Besides, he did really know where the exit was. After a long bath and a good rest in a cozy bed, she could go back to fetch Kojiro and Nyaasu. Then the trio could go back to their world and regain their lives.

This would all be over soon.

She smiled serenely with this thought, and sank just a little further into the water very happily …

Outside the bathroom, however, Picodevimon was happy too, and he did not hide it from Lickitongue who just stood outside the door with grave impatience, and probably hunger as well. The digimon grinned toothily at the pokémon, and Lickitongue cocked his head with confusion and a little fear.

With a pompous shake of his head, Picodevimon hopped onto the stair railing near at hand and leaned back against the sloping rail.

Everything was going quite well for him now. Limomon had tried too hard. The direct approach was overkill, not to mention just plain "killed" in the case of Limomon. Now that the monkey/lizard digimon was out of the way because of his humiliating failure, it was just Picodevimon, and this female human made it too easy. She was just leaping into his trap with open arms to embrace it.

He allowed himself a good chuckle.

Perhaps the next Kaiser would never be. Then again, maybe an angry, vengeful Kaiser was the wrong way to go anyway. Kaisers were too miserable and finally swayed to their friends for support and comfort that darkness and evil could never give them, but to have the ruler oblivious to her state … this was the way to keep a puppet, especially with a human as proud and temperamental as she. If a dozen desperate data could spoil a little girl rotten, how much more could a virus make an already at least half-rotten young woman into the next "Queen of Hearts"?

Oh, he just let out a round of laughter this time. Who cared if Lickitongue gave him an uneasy glare? He would not hurt him except at his master's command, and he could not tell his master of his suspicions, because he could not speak. Even if he could, Picodevimon doubted the creature would have any eloquence, and it would have to be a lot of eloquence to change this human's mind once it had been set; Picodevimon was setting Musashi's mind just the way he wanted it. There would be no stunning tongues on him any time soon.

After Musashi-sama's hot meal of her choice and some soft, pretty robe to wear, she would be his all while he hid under the guise of her servant. Life did not get any easier, or better, than this!

#

It goes without saying that the tanemon village noticed Musashi's absence. The evening of the first night after she trounced off with Picodevimon, everyone had the entire area scoured for her, but she proved nowhere to be found.

Nyaasu, coming back from a hunt that now had his sore feet, a couple burs, and a very parched throat and growling stomach, did not wish to face Kojiro alone without having found Musashi. Somehow facing a fire-red, enraged Musashi was easier than facing a leaf-green, sick-with-worry Kojiro.

A low growl caused his head to sink with its heavy sound as Nyaasu saw the lights of the village. He heard no rejoicing. He saw no sign of Musashi at all. Sure, he had not actually entered the village yet, but he knew that if they had found her, he would already have known before the village had come into view.

First one and now another! Would this nightmare ever end?

"Nyah …" moaned Nyaasu.

"Nyaasu!" cried a voice backed with the flutter of wings.

Nyaasu jumped and turned to Aeromon on a branch still shaking with his landing.

"You shouldn't be wandering alone," said Aeromon.

"I was looking for Musashi, nya," Nyaasu muttered.

"But whoever has her could kill you off or use you against her or even Kojiro-san yet," said Aeromon with deep concern. "It's not safe."

With a heavy sigh, Nyaasu leaned hard against Aeromon's tree with arms crossed idly over his chest.

"I'm guessing you didn't find Musashi then either, nya," said Nyaasu.

Aeromon looked down strangely a moment, just off to the side of Nyaasu, but only long enough for Nyaasu to cock his head curiously. He did not even have the chance to worry really before Aeromon's beady eyes returned to the pokémon.

"Piyomon might have found her," he said quickly.

"What do you mean, 'might', nya!" Nyaasu demanded sharply. "Either she did or she didn't. Nyah!"

Aeromon nodded readily. "Well, it's the Ashen Queen. Sandlynxmon."

"She has Musashi, nya!" Nyaasu gasped. His idleness left instantly as he leapt up in fear.

"Uh … I don't think so …"

"Did she whoop her butt for making fun of her hair?" Nyaasu snapped dryly.

"Uh …"

#

"If you help us," said Picodevimon to a koemon, "you'll be working under a far more superior ruler." He grinned, showing his very sharp, deadly teeth. "Not to mention the fact that you won't have to work in this awful desert. I know you just pick up slaves for Sandlynxmon here, but if you work under the new ruler, you'll be working toward an empire far bigger than the Grey Desert!"

The koemon eased his slingshot, which he had been about to use on Picodevimon without the slightest hesitation. He roped it behind his back where it usually resided, save when the queen wanted them to use spears instead. Now a broad, eager grin formed on the koemon's face, and holding out his gloved hand, he said, "It's a deal, Picodevimon!"

Picodevimon held out his claw to shake, but suddenly the koemon stopped, tapping a finger at his forehead. "But we get to use our sling shots right?"

A chuckle escaped the disgusting creature with which the data digimon dared to do business.

"Koemon!" exclaimed Picodevimon. "All of your race can use all the sling shots they want!"

"Then it's definitely a deal!" cried the koemon, and he snatched up Picodevimon's claw with a violent shake. "When do we start?"

"Right now," said Picodevimon, and he showed the koemon what he and his fellows were supposed to do.

With glee, the koemon did just what was asked of them, for they had no love or loyalty for the vile queen.

The turbines, the conveyer belts, and all the machines in the lower levels of the Ashen Queen's domain all exploded, sabotaged by the koemon, and a few other viruses and data that worked for her. Even some foolish vaccines helped, thinking this to be the only way to escape. And the entire kingdom was destroyed in the flame that Picodevimon stoked in the human he now possessed.

After all, Sandlynxmon had been cruel to Kojiro. Sandlynxmon had lied and tricked Musashi and her little band. Sandlynxmon was a creep who enslaved other digimon, and now she was destroyed in her sleep by those flames. Now there was nothing left of the Ashen Kingdom, for it really was now only ash and rubble.

The rise of a new ruler would take her place in the steamy, green jungles beyond the desert; an Aztec city of a new empire was in the making!

What a show for Vamdemon, Picodevimon thought, and he laughed in triumph amidst the fools that had helped him and the fools that were destroyed.

"_Yatta_!" he cried gleefully. "Take that, Limomon! Take that, Sandlynxmon!"

Only one or two digimon that were not in on the plot escaped, and it was one of those two who met up with Piyomon and told her all that he had learned.

#

"_No_!" Kojiro cried.

He leaped up in panic and snatched Tailmon off the ground. He could not be hearing this he could not. They could not have Musashi. They could NOT HAVE MUSASHI!

"I don't believe you!" he cried. "Tell me Musashi's okay! They don't have her! They don't, they don't, they don't, _they don't_! You hear me?!" And he began shaking the cat wildly, and his voice was even wilder.

"Put me down!" cried Tailmon, but even as she spoke, she pulled out of his grasp and leapt neatly onto the ground.

They were outside the hall and dawn barely woke the village before Kojiro heard the news. That the sun would rise on such a sour day as this was a mockery as far as Kojiro or anyone else was concerned. He kicked the hall wall, and slammed his head against it in defeat.

"Kojiro-san," said a tanemon sadly, but Kojiro did not respond.

Instead he turned abruptly to Nyaasu.

"We're going to get her back!" Kojiro cried.

He might have been quite heroic, save that his exaggerated facial expressions kept one from taking him overly seriously, but then again, that was what perhaps made it all the more impressive in a way, not that Kojiro noticed or cared.

Nyaasu only noticed momentarily. In fact he had been roused up right along with him.

"Nya!" he cried, leaping up onto Kojiro and climbing up onto his head. Now he could be high enough to feel superior over the crowd. "Musashi's our partner, and we're getting her back right now, nya, nya!" He shook his fist with emphasis, his tail swishing like a whip behind him that hit the back of Kojiro's head.

Kojiro looked strangely up at the paws clutching the top of his head.

"I'm tired of all this, nya! We're going to find Musashi, and we're gun-nya leave right ny-ow, nya!"

"But how?" Kojiro demanded.

"No," said Tailmon, shaking her head. "You two aren't going anywhere. All three of you could get caught! I won't allow it!"

Nyaasu leapt from Kojiro's head and brushing himself off a bit under a pair of haughty lids, he laid a paw across Tailmon's shoulders.

"Tailmon, Tailmon, Tailmon," said Nyaasu in such a way that Tailmon could only close her eyes in disgust and await Nyaasu's next phrase with as much patience as she could muster. He smiled smugly. "This is Musashi we're talking about." Here he let out a good-natured laugh. "I think we kny-ow how to handle Musashi on a little tantrum."

Kojiro squinted as if anticipating some electric shock in the near future.

"We do?" he asked.

With a quick glare behind him, Nyaasu shouted, "Of course we do, nya!"

Then he found himself losing his balance as Tailmon pushed Nyaasu's paw from her shoulder.

"No," she said simply. "No, you can't and you don't, especially not Kojiro. Not in his condition."

"I'm better!" Kojiro protested.

"It's too dangerous," said Tailmon.

Gomamon rolled his eyes.

"Tailmon," he said entering in on the scene outside the hall. "I hate to interrupt, but whether or not he's really here to save the Digital World, he has a right to help his friend."

"But he has no digimon to protect him!" Tailmon said. "No!"

Agumon could not help but agree. "We're all only child and smaller except for Tailmon," he said.

"But we'll all be there," Gomamon pointed out.

"N-yeah!" agreed Nyaasu. "Besides, you don't kny-ow her like we do. We kny-ow how to handle her."

An uncontrollable smile graced Gomamon's face.

"Besides!" said Gomamon. "They're a team, aren't they?"

Leaping up in excitement, Nyaasu cried, "Yes, yes! We're a team, Tailmon! Team Rocket forever, nya!"

The anticipated jolt seemed to go through Kojiro right now, and only Neamon noticed. Kojiro saw him out of the corner of his eye, looking up at him curiously. But he could not return the look, instead pretending he did not see him, and pretending he was just fine, even though he knew he wasn't.

Tailmon let out a heavy sigh.

"Nyaasu," she said, "just …" she shook her head. "Let us scout it all out first, at least."

Why couldn't he be okay? Why could he not be all right enough to go save Musashi from a similar fate as his own? It wasn't fair! He knew Tailmon was right. He was in no condition to help Musashi as he was still so weak and recovering himself from what had happened to him. The heart-wrenching fear of Team Rocket proved how ridiculous he was being, but he could not help it. He could not count the number of times he forgot he and his friends even were Team Rocket members really, but every time he remembered he felt sick enough to throw up, and shaken enough to scream at the top of his lungs. The only thing Team Rocket seemed to conjure up in his mind, besides _yana kanji_, and well, no matter what it made him think, it was all _yana kanji_. Nothing good ever had come out of it. Had they ever had even one full day of feeling good about themselves? Very rarely. And it usually had nothing to do with the fact that they were from Team Rocket.

_It's just not fair_, he thought miserably, but he tried desperately to clear his face when Nyaasu turned to see why Kojiro had suddenly gone so silent in his resolve to come with the rescue party. Hopefully, Nyaasu would just think he was disappointed that Tailmon would not let them come. He was positive that's all Nyaasu would think. He hoped. Sort of. No. Nyaasu knew he wasn't okay, but Nyaasu was too busy with his own resolve to bother about it now. At least that was something.

"Then you come back and get us, nya?" Nyaasu demanded.

"Oh, let them come," said Gomamon. "Come on, Tailmon. Just because you're stronger than the rest of us, doesn't mean you get to make all the orders."

Kojiro closed his eyes, clenching his teeth tightly, and finally unable to contain himself anymore, he stomped his foot down.

"_YAMERO_!" he snarled.

Everyone turned to look, and Kojiro lowered his head, his cheeks flushing.

"Look," he said. "It's okay. We'll stay here until you figure out things."

"Ny-o!" Nyaasu snapped.

"Yes!" Kojiro snapped sharply back with fists tightly clenched at his sides and his teeth set with determination. Then he calmed his voice again and turned to the digimon. "We'll stay."

"Are you sure?" asked Gomamon. "You can do what you want."

"Yes, I—I'm sure," said Kojiro with an unsteady nod.

Nyaasu glared but surprisingly did not protest for the moment. This made Kojiro uneasy. Silence in Nyaasu usually meant trouble, but he could not worry about it now.

"Just come back soon, and tell us what we can do then if you can't get her right away," Kojiro said with far more control than before. "And hurry!"

"We will," Agumon promised.

#

Inside the hall, Nyaasu peered out the window. He looked one way and then another. Then very carefully he made to leap outside, but just as his feet were about to leave the window ledge, a voice suddenly sounded from behind and deterred his flight.

"Nyaasu, what are you doing?"

Nyaasu jumped with a meow of surprise and nearly fell head first off the ledge. Waving his arms frantically he managed to grab hold of the side of the window frame before throwing a disgruntled pout to Kojiro.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Nyaasu demanded. "I'm going to follow Tailmon and them before they get too far ahead, nya!"

Kojiro shook his head. "But Nyaasu …"

With a roll of his eyes, Nyaasu steadied himself back onto the ledge and crossed his paws staunchly.

"But nya-othing, nya," Nyaasu muttered.

They did not have time for this arguing. The more he stalled here, Nyaasu knew, the further up ahead the rescue party to the home of the new digimon ruler. They knew it would not be hard to find if she was already powerful enough to break the Ashen Kingdom.

"They won't even kny-ow we're following, nya," said Nyaasu. "We kny-ow how to shadow people. We've been doing it for at least two or three years ny-ow. Once we find the castle or whatever, we'll find out where Musashi's sleeping, give her a good bop on the head." Here he slammed his fist into a paw with passion. "Then we drag her out of there, and nya!"

A slow frown covered Kojiro's face, and Nyaasu's enthusiasm felt a temporary snag.

"Uh, Nyaasu … are you sure that would work? I mean, that sounds kinda …"

"Hey, hey, Kojiro, nya!" said Nyaasu, waving his paws out in front of him. "Who's the brains here?"

"Uh …" Kojiro paused. "You are?"

"N-yeah!" said Nyaasu. Leaping out the window, he landed with feline finesse onto the ground outside. "All we ny-eed's a good stick or something to whack her with, nya."

Picking up a little twig from the ground, Nyaasu held it up for Kojiro to see him whack it at an imaginary Musashi which happened to be rock. The stick snapped, and Nyaasu brought in to his face.

"Hmm," he murmured, and then turned to Kojiro looking uneasily at the stick in two as if it were an omen of the near future.

Yet, with a shrug and a careless toss of the stick over his shoulder, Nyaasu began to creep into the bushes, but it was not long before he stopped suddenly. Kojiro, he realized still stood on the other side of the window.

"Are you coming or what, nya?" Nyaasu demanded. "You said so yourself you're better ny-ow, nya?"

"Well, I …"

Again, they didn't have time for this. Why did Kojiro have to be so confusing when bad stuff happened to him? What was the big deal? What was not to get? They break in. Grab Musashi. Knock some needed sense into her. Leave. Find their way home. It couldn't be much clearer.

"I can't carry Musashi by myself, nya," Nyaasu pointed out.

Nyaasu's eyes widened in disbelief as Kojiro still seemed unwilling to come.

With eyes closing ponderously, and arms crossing firmly, Kojiro looked about to muse over the situation for another half hour at least.

"Kojiro!" Nyaasu hissed. "We'll lose them, nya!"

Opening his eyes again, Kojiro let loose an odd pout.

Finally, he had given in! Nyaasu knew that look, and it made him grin with satisfaction.

"Fine," said Kojiro as he swung a leg out the window pulled himself outside, "but I still don't like this. We told them we were going to stay."

"_You_ told them, nya," said Nyaasu bluntly. "_I _changed your mind. Nya?"

"Right …" Kojiro sighed.

And together Nyaasu and Kojiro made their way as quietly as possible through the village without arousing the attention of any koromon or tanemon. Then they raced off into the night to follow Tailmon and the rest of the rescue party with the usual Team Rocket stealth and speed.


	26. Construction Site

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX:

Construction Site

Tailmon looked sadly down at her hind paws.

She should not have made Kojiro stay behind. Guilt built inside her the further she went from the village. Gomamon had been correct in saying that Kojiro had a right to come with to help his friend. She just could not stand how everything was going. She could not bear the thought of both the humans being caught. They seemed so helpless, and not just because they did not have stronger digimon to help them. After all, they practically had a whole army to back them up. But they were so helpless in the fact that neither Kojiro nor Musashi had any restraint. They had no will to fight back against their own emotions much less virus mind manipulation.

However, she had to admit, that from the little she had seen of Kojiro when she had first met him in the soft green hills and watercolor trees of his own world, he did seem very different now. Maybe for the better too, but she still felt that he was not recovered enough to fight without at least one other human at his side. There was Nyaasu, yes, but another thing that humans really needed, Tailmon knew, was the support of their own kind. No creature could completely replace that need.

Maybe that was why she felt that she had done so wrongfully in not allowing Kojiro to help.

"You okay, Tailmon?" asked Agumon suddenly at her side.

Tailmon had slowed in her pace as the leader of the expedition, and Agumon, Palmon, Hawkmon, Neamon, and Gomamon (the others were elsewhere coming from different directions in the hunt for Musashi) turned to her with deep concern.

Red with embarrassment, Tailmon looked back ahead of her.

"Uh," she said. "It's just everything. We should keep going. We can talk after we find Musashi."

Agumon nodded in agreement, though his look of concern did not fade.

"Okay, Tailmon," he said.

"I talked to some gekomon, and they said that the construction for the new ruler is underway not far from here now," said Hawkmon. "We should be there soon."

Tailmon nodded, and on they headed little knowing of two pairs of eyes watching from the bushes several yards away …

#

"Nya …" Nyaasu murmured. "Ny-ot much further ny-ow."

"I heard them," answered Kojiro with annoyance as he followed Nyaasu after the rescue party.

Although they had heard "not much further", the pair was not prepared for the cliff anymore than the digimon were. Further back than the digimon, Nyaasu and Kojiro stopped in confusion as the rescue party stopped at the edge and looked down in shock.

Leaning down toward Nyaasu, Kojiro whispered, "What are they looking at?"

"I don't kny-ow, nya," Nyaasu whispered back with a scrunched face, and he held a finger to his lips as an indication to simply listen.

"Wow, just think of all the beans that could fit in there!" Neamon murmured just loud enough for the pair of stalkers to hear him.

_That was hardly helpful_, Kojiro thought.

Hawkmon, who happened to be next to Neamon, turned and after an odd pause staring at him, he said, "I don't think they have beans in mind for all that."

"What _are_ they doing?" asked Palmon.

"Isn't it obvious?" Gomamon said simply. "They're building a trench!"

"But what for?" Neamon demanded.

Tailmon shook her head. "Does that matter? It's all just to keep Musashi from seeing what's happening to herself and to destroy the peaceful lives of the vaccine and data digimon."

"I still think it would be beautiful to see that thing filled to the top with beans," said Neamon with a shrug.

Gomamon slapped the ground with a flipper. "So, gang, are we going to check out this place or are we just going to talk about it?"

"Right," agreed the others.

"Let's go," said Agumon, and the company moved along the edge of the cliff to find a safe way down.

Hardly, two minutes passed before the shadows crept out of the brush and leapt to the edge in all curiosity, but not necessarily in eagerness. Nyaasu looked at Kojiro and Kojiro at Nyaasu, and both returned once again to the sight below them. During the course of the day and a half spent looking for Musashi's new residence, neither Kojiro nor Nyaasu had thought to expect something like this.

A long trench was being built there; though, if the digimon had not said that it was being built, Kojiro would have thought that for sure that the trench had always been there, and that the specs of digimon workers were doing something other than wasting their time building it. Nearby was a gorgeous waterfall that in its natural glory looked somewhat out of place against the mud, grime and ugly magnitude of the trench amidst leveled trees and crude tents and other shelters along the way. However what took Kojiro, and probably Nyaasu as well, more than anything else had to be the foundations of a magnificent building, which appeared to be situated in middle of what would be the circular shape of the trench. The enormity of this building would put the massive falls and the trench to shame when it was finished, there could be no doubt about that.

Kojiro shook his head in disbelief and a little bit of fear.

"This isn't going to be good, nya," Nyaasu muttered.

Throwing his direction to Nyaasu, Kojiro glowered.

"What do you mean 'going to be'?" he demanded, and his expression quickly turned near frantic. "This is bad enough right now!"

Nyaasu waved a paw carelessly aside. "Relax, Kojiro. All we gotta do is find Musashi, nya."

"And then what?" asked Kojiro ominously.

"Would you quit being pessimistic and just come on," Nyaasu growled, irritation growing. "Help me find a good way down."

"Shouldn't we just follow the others?" asked Kojiro, pointing a thumb behind him.

Nyaasu shook his head. "No, they'll see us, stupid, nya!"

With a weary roll of his eyes, Kojiro reluctantly followed the cat on a mission.

In that way Musashi and Nyaasu proved alike. Once they had their mind on something they never gave it up. Not ever. The thing that had Kojiro worried the most was that once those opposing stubborn forces met, what would happen then? Galaxies could explode, especially with some dark virus backing up Musashi. Though, he had to admit that it would not take much to get Musashi going if she was suddenly offered anything she could possibly want, and suddenly told that she had to give it all up by a nagging cat.

"Oh," he moaned.

"Don't worry, Kojiro, nya," said Nyaasu with a grin as he scanned along the cliff for a suitable passage of descent.

"I can't help it," Kojiro replied.

Rocks and roots stuck out now and then, but if the duo could find an easier slope, that would make it better. Eventually, Nyaasu chose a spot that did not look at all safe to Kojiro, and he could not believe that Nyaasu would attempt such a climb, but perhaps the cat's patience had run thin.

"Maybe," Kojiro said, treading words sensitively so as not to sound too much as if he was arguing, "we should just go follow Tailmon. We're already here; they wouldn't send us back now."

"Oh, we'll be fine, nya," said Nyaasu, strangely cheerful, and this just made Kojiro all the more uncomfortable. Statements like that could be described as nothing other than the famous last words before excruciating pain however cliché the phrase.

He could not help the heavy sigh, but in compliance, he turned around, facing the jungle and carefully, oh, so very carefully, made his descent. Nyaasu quickly followed. It was only now that Kojiro thought that Nyaasu probably chose this spot because of the shorter length down than had been discovered thus far. A relatively easy, grassy slope met the cliff partway. In the red glow of the setting sun, Kojiro had not noticed it before.

Still, that did not make the first part of the climb very fun.

Step after careful step, near loosing footing and hand gripping, Kojiro constantly had to remind himself that not long ago he had experienced a far more perilous climb. Somehow it did not help as much as he wanted it to, except for the fact that suddenly he felt a rustle at his feet.

"Ack!" he cried.

Nyaasu turned in wide-eyed surprised, but his concern proved minimal, not that Kojiro had long to wonder about it. Falling backwards, Kojiro grabbed in vain with adrenalin burning fingers. He fell with a thud on the ground buried in the long grass of the easy slope.

Hopping the rest of the way off the cliff, Nyaasu bounded beside Kojiro who returned him with an annoyed squint as he rubbed his back tenderly.

"See? I told it wouldn't be so bad, nya?" the pokémon chirped, and up again in an instant, Nyaasu scurried down the rest of the hill.

"Wait!" Kojiro moaned.

Struggling to his feet, first on his knees then pushing upwards, Kojiro looked up at the massive falls, which looked much bigger even from the fifteen foot cliff to here. The very little that was left of the sun, glowed along its misty edge as if it had a light all its own. Wait a minute, maybe it did. Yes, Kojiro thought that some glow peered from behind the falls. The light of some building was what it looked like to him.

"Nyah!" called the impatient Nyaasu.

Blinking to his partner, Kojiro gave a sharp nod, whether or not Nyaasu saw, and hurried down the hill with him.

"I think," Kojiro said, and he paused.

A raised brow met him in return as Nyaasu slowly stopped and turned to him, face and shoulders slumping with irritation that was not at all lost upon Kojiro.

Even as the heavy frown creased his face, Kojiro tried to pretend he did not see the typical disgust in regarding his thoughts. He used to be much better at ignoring it, but lately everything seemed to hit a nerve.

He squeezed his eyes shut briefly and shook his head into a more suitable expression.

"I think Musashi is behind the waterfall," he said.

Nyaasu's head swung to the waterfall, and after a moment of inspection, he turned back and asked curiously, "What makes you say that, nya?"

"She wouldn't be in the half finished castle, would she?" asked Kojiro.

Nyaasu shrugged. "Maybe if she's surveying the work site, nya."

"It's getting dark, though," said Kojiro.

With one last look at the waterfall, Nyaasu squinted quite hard. This time when he returned to Kojiro, he said, "Nya, I kny-ow what you mean, believe it or ny-ot, nya. I think there's a cave behind those falls. It would be a good spot to survey everything in comfort if they got a nya-ice little base there or something, nya?"

"But there's an awful lot of digimon out there," said Kojiro, leaning forward with a hand over his eyes, even though the sun was almost completely vanished, and he had nothing from which to shield his eyes. "How are we going to get past them all?"

"You mean, how are _you_ going to get past them all, nya?" asked Nyaasu innocently.

Kojiro's eyes narrowed to the side where Nyaasu smiled brightly in return. Before he could reply, however, Nyaasu went on.

"Easy!" Nyaasu cried. "We put you in disguise!"

Kojiro straightened and crossed his arms. "With what?" he wanted to know.

Nyaasu scratched his chin thoughtfully, and after a moment Kojiro could actually see the light bulb emerge above his companion's head. He could not help but cringe.

"We get some of these leaves," Nyaasu said, pulling some off of a nearby shrub, "Put them over you, and then …" he paused. "Nya … Ny-o! Over there. There's some tarp, nya!" He thrust an eager finger to a piece of broken fence upon which a filthy tarp hung. "Then we put the leaves on you and—"

#

"They're gunna see me …" Kojiro squeaked.

"Shhh, quiet, nya," said Nyaasu. He looked at the strange green, walking shrub beside him.

"But the viruses," Kojiro said. He was starting to feel very hot, and shivers ran up his spine so much that he felt his body quiver. A feeling of nausea was even growing in his stomach from the fear of something discovering them. "You should be in disguise too!" he whispered hoarsely.

"Ny-obody here will recognize me, nya," said Nyaasu with careless shrug, "and ny-o one will ny-otice _you_ either."

"But they'll see through my disguise," said Kojiro.

"Oh, come on, Kojiro," Nyaasu grumbled. "Cut it out, you're starting to sound like Frodo Baggins in Mordor. We've been in phonier disguises than this, and ny-o one ny-oticed, nya."

"But no one was looking for us," said Kojiro, "and besides there was no viruses."

Nyaasu shook his head. "Nyah …"

"Don't you 'nya' me, Nyaasu," Kojiro whispered. "This is serious."

Without warning, Nyaasu climbed up the branches of his disguise and grabbed Kojiro by the scruff, standing on his chest. Glaring him right in ripped out eye holes, he hissed. "Get a grip, Kojiro! It's too dark for anyone to notice. The only way anyone will ny-otice is if you draw attention to yourself, nya!"

Kojiro let loose a gulp, and Nyaasu dropped to the ground.

"Come on, Kojiro," Nyaasu said. "You kny-ow how to do it. Just think of the mission in mind and forget that anyone might recognize you. That's how we always do it, isn't it?"

"I … I don't think about it when we're in disguise normally," Kojiro admitted.

"Exactly, nya!" Nyaasu whispered. "Just don't think about it. Ny-o one kny-ows you're anything but a weird digimon, and if anyone stops us, I'll do that talking, nya. Besides, this is about Musashi. You wan-nya rescue her, nya?"

Kojiro nodded.

"Then just focus on that, nya," said Nyaasu.

Again Kojiro nodded, but this time not without a moan before they crept passed the still busily working digimon with their noses in the trench and the castle contstruction.

No one noticed them. No one stopped them. It seemed everything was going according to Nyaasu's plan. after all. Maybe the bad luck streak of Team Rocket had left them. Maybe … Kojiro could only hope, but he quickly reminded himself that Nyaasu and Kojiro were on the right side this time, even if they were sneaking around without telling Tailmon and the others.

#

Just as Kojiro and Nyaasu had suspected, a little building stood behind the falls. Unlike they had expected the building was no base with searchlights, or a guard tower. It was not fortified in any way. Nothing even camouflaged it once one stepped behind the falls, and the pair of house lights at the front door glowed with a blinding intensity if one happened to look right at one, especially after having become so accustomed to the dark.

"It's uh … the Seven Dwarves' cottage," said Kojiro, mouth dropping in disbelief, "in a cave behind a waterfall."

Nyaasu leveled himself beside him on a vine. Both had climbed the easy vines and stepping stones up the side of the falls, Kojiro, of course, without his disguise now. They were still hidden amongst the moss covered stones and the vines at the edge of the cave as they looked in at the unusual sight.

_But_! Nyaasu thought. _If a TV set can be in the middle of the desert, a cottage can be behind a waterfall, nya. Ny-o comparison._

He climbed up onto the flat surface of the floor of the cave, and Kojiro followed quietly from behind. The feeling of being quite spy-like took over Nyaasu now as it always did when Team Rocket sneaked about. Sure, technically, on occasion, Team Rocket agents could be called spies, but that did not change the tingling sensation of the sound of "Secret Agent Man" playing in one's head. Though, as he looked at Kojiro, he found himself slightly disappointed to see that Kojiro apparently did not feel the sentiment as he had in the past.

_It's okay, he's still not well, nya_, Nyaasu thought. Besides, Musashi was in danger. He doubted that Kojiro even on normal circumstances would be in the mood for feeling the thrill of espionage.

Perhaps it was a bit of the adventure side of the cat instinct kicking in, but the adrenaline, the sneaking about, and the anticipation of reaching destination had to be one of the things he liked best about his job back in his own world, especially when he was the one leading these sorts of operations. Musashi often took the fun out of it when she was in charge.

_Oh, ny-eah_.

They still had to face Musashi.

Creeping up to the cottage, he then leapt up and pressed himself up against the wall; again Kojiro followed his example without a word. Nyaasu pressed a finger to his lips for silence regardless. Kojiro nodded seemingly in understanding, but a few moments after tiptoeing slowly along the cottage, Kojiro whispered, "How are we going to find Musashi?"

Nyaasu glared, but replied anyway, "We find a bedroom. There's probably only one, nya. Look through the windows." He could not see through them himself as the windows were too high.

Leaning in with hands to shield his eyes against any glare that reflected on the window, Kojiro peered carefully inside.

"It's just a hallway here," said Kojiro, glancing down at his partner, "and it's empty."

"Keep checking, nya," Nyaasu replied.

Both seemed to have forgotten to keep silent, but at least their voices remained hushed.

They checked around the house, each window showing no sign of the bedroom or Musashi. According the Kojiro, most rooms appeared quite empty, in fact; though he had seen a couple digimon talking together in one room.

Finally Nyaasu said, "Then we got to climb to the roof. There are only maybe three rooms up there, nya." Without waiting for a reply, Nyaasu took to the charming, flower and vine covered trellis up to the second storey of the cottage.

Kojiro hesitated, twiddling his fingers with uncertainty. Nyaasu looked down to see what was holding him up.

"She's not going to be very happy, Nyaasu," Kojiro muttered, his eyes lowering with his growing ill ease.

"Who said anything about Musashi being happy?" Nyaasu asked simply. "Of course, she's ny-ot going to be happy. That's why we got to conk her out and drag her away, nya."

"Out the window?" asked Kojiro.

Nyaasu had to think about this one, and he paused before replying, "We'll worry about that later." Here, a careless shrug activated. "Besides, you said the place was empty, nya."

"I just said it _looked_ empty, that doesn't mean it is," said Kojiro, now even more uneasy than before as he shrunk into his shoulders and shivered.

With a shake of his head, Nyaasu climbed again, not caring now if Kojiro followed or not.

"I'll check the windows first and then call you up when I find her, nya," Nyaasu thought out loud.

It was the very first window as he reached the second storey.

He saw her.

Unfortunately, Musashi was not asleep, though she wore a most delicately pink nightgown. She wore a green, putty facemask of some kind, a nightcap designed to protect her hair in curlers, and she stood in the glow of the a nightlight, too low for Nyaasu to make much out of the quality of the room, not that he was paying any attention to that anyway. All that registered was the dresser upon which her hand rested and the very tall wooden headboard of what Nyaasu assumed to be a sumptuous bed. Then of course was Musashi herself looking rather staunch while glaring condescendingly down at the little digimon — it looked like one of those koemon too!

She was giving him an earful, whatever was going on.

"How can you make a mistake like that?" she demanded. "I said I wanted tea and you bring me coffee? What's up with that!? You're all worthless! That's what you are! Well, you're a monkey, what should I expect besides monkey business?" Here she let out a growl.

"Do you, uh … want me to get you some tea then?" asked the koemon hesitantly.

"No! I'm tired," snapped Musashi. "Get me some tomorrow. Steeped extra! I want the taste really strong."

"Yes, Musashi-sama," said the koemon, bowing exaggeratingly low before taking his leave.

Slamming the door shut behind the digimon, she flared into the room, and after a moment or two of steeping in her anger, she threw off the nightlight and everything went dark.

Nyaasu blinked and then ducked low, fearing that his very recognizable silhouette would be seen by Musashi against what reached around the corner from the glow of the house lights.

"Nyaasu," Kojiro whispered from below.

Widening his eyes, Nyaasu glanced down at the ground. He had almost forgotten about Kojiro.

"Is she in there?" he asked.

Nyaasu nodded. Then with a swooping paw, he motioned Kojiro up beside him, but not without also pressing s severe finger to his lips.

In silence, Nyaasu watched Kojiro climb the trellis. Each step of a black boot caused the wood to creak and groan beneath his taller, heavier body in comparison to little Nyaasu. Kojiro too took great interest in this fact, and had a constant lookout on his feet, not to mention the fact that he had to pause wide-eyed and frightened of falling at every step and the fact that his boots often got stuck in the trellis and vines.

"Shh …" Nyaasu hissed.

"I'm trying!" Kojiro spat angrily, and he almost lost his footing again.

Luckily, he was now high enough for Nyaasu to slap a paw over his mouth to stop the full effect of his yelp as he caught himself. Though even muffling Kojiro, Nyaasu had to glance behind him at the darkened window to make sure that Musashi had would not come to investigate. Kojiro, meanwhile tried to shake his head out of a face full of kitty fur, and eventually had to push the paw aside with a hand.

"I don't like this," whispered Kojiro.

"I don't like this either, ny-ow _sh-h-h-h_," Nyaasu hissed and shook his head with disgust. "Nya."

"Then let's not bonk her on the head," whispered Kojiro. "Maybe she'll just come with us."

"Well, we have to let her fall asleep first, nya," said Nyaasu.

"Not if we're not going to bonk her," Kojiro said.

Nyaasu growled. "Stop arguing with me. Do you want to get Musashi or ny-ot?"

"Not like this," Kojiro returned.

"She's going to hear us, you kny-ow, nya," whispered Nyaasu, shaking a threatening fist, which Kojiro simply ignored.

"We should just talk to her, not make her angry," Kojiro insisted.

"You weren't making all this fuss before, nya," said Nyaasu.

"I didn't think about it until now," hissed Kojiro, "but I _did_ say I thought this was a bad idea. Even if your plan does succeed she's going to explode when she wakes up from you conking her on the head."

"We'll tie her up!" Nyaasu growled, his voice rising slightly. Kojiro was really starting to get on his nerves.

"Are you sure that will hold her?" Kojiro demanded.

"Then we'll chain her up, nya!" Nyaasu cried.

Kojiro's eyes popped in surprise.

"Well, extreme times mean extreme measures, nya," Nyaasu said, "She'll thank us later," He was looking quite haughty even as Kojiro's face contorted into a look of horror. "Once she calms down then we'll have a good talk with her, nya. You can talk about all those virus digimon and how they trick people and stuff. Then she's gotta see the light, nya, nya." He grinned in spite of himself. "Then we can go—"

Kojiro cringed. "Nyaasu!" he cried.

Too late.

Nyaasu turned around only to get a face full of metal baseball bat before he sailed across the cave.


	27. The Rise of the Jade Empress

JMJ

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN:

The Rise of the Jade Empress

Kojiro watched in a compete stupor, clinging tightly to the trellis as Nyaasu flew over his head and landed in a heap on the other side of the cave. Then he turned to the monstrous face of night cream and blazing eyes in the window and those tense fingers clutching the deadly, metal bat, and he gulped, sinking into the trellis vines and flowers. He knew that if he had been any closer, that bat would have smashed right into his face as well.

"Kojiro!" said Musashi as she slowly digressed from her near explosive face. "What are you doing?"

"Uh … Musashi …"

All he had planned to say to her, he tried desperately to bring to the forefront of his mind, but every thought he had planned to make into words before she had appeared utterly abandoned him now.

"Kojiro," Musashi warned.

He squeezed his eyes shut and shuddered.

With a deep scowl, Musashi stared at Kojiro a moment, and then throwing back her head she screamed, "GUARDS!"

Kojiro opened his eyes again very wide, and he stared at Musashi in disbelief.

"Musashi, what're you—"

But his voice was cut off by the sound of massive insect wings, and what remained of Sandlynxmon's army now swarmed the little cottage. The gokimon, now at the command of Musashi, leered down at Kojiro with eyes that bespoke the depraved delight they would experience in ripping him limb from limb.

"_Iya_! Musashi, _matte_!" Kojiro screamed.

The young woman before him did not even seem to be Musashi. With chills that ran down his spine, he thought that Musashi looked very much the part of the human version of the Ashen Queen from the Grey Desert. No question about it, this woman had certainly taken her place and then some. She stood stately and with cold pride as she leered down at Kojiro cowering miserably on the trellis in this _Romeo and Juliet_ scene gone completely wrong.

"What are your orders, Musashi-sama?" asked a gokimon.

As terrified as he was, Kojiro could not help but notice the wide, toothy grin of another strange, ugly, little digimon peering out from behind Musashi as he perched himself onto the dresser inside. The look he gave Kojiro reminded him of the way Limomon had looked at him, and he suddenly felt very afraid, lost, hopeless even.

That thing. Whatever it was. Just that thing!

He returned to Musashi.

"Musashi, wait!" Kojiro cried hardly know what he said. "You have to listen to me!"

Apparently Musashi hardly knew or cared what he said either, and thrusting her bat out toward Kojiro, she said, "Remove him from the premises. This man and that nyaasu tried to beat me over the head in my sleep."

"I only see _one_ intruder, Musashi-sama," said a gokimon.

"The other one's by the edge of the cave that way," she said and pointed with the bat. "Make sure he's out of the cave."

"At once, Musashi-sama!" cried the gokimon with a grin, and he spat the orders to some of the others to fly over and make sure there was no sign of Nyaasu. Then turning to Kojiro he told a pair to throw him over the falls.

"What?" gasped Kojiro. "Musashi, no!"

But no one listened to him.

Disgusting bug-like arms reached under his shoulders and around his legs. With a large gulp he almost choked on, Kojiro tried to hold on as hard as he could, still begging Musashi for mercy in vain, but the gokimon soon plucked him from the trellis and began flying away with him.

"No! _MATTE_!" he screeched. "Stop! Stop!" Then he let out a frantic wail.

Shaking and struggling, he tried to free himself, even if it meant colliding with the stone floor of the cave. It would be far better than to be thrown over the falls.

"NYA!"

Kojiro threw his head in the direction of the meow, but he could only see the last big of Nyaasu's tail disappear the way he and Nyaasu had climbed up here. The gokimon had apparently shoved him backwards off the cliff, and Kojiro winced at every "Ack!" "Oof!" and "Nya!" until he could heard Nyaasu no more.

But then it was his turn.

The roar of the falls drowned out any sound that the gokimon made, and with feet swimming with the terror it would feel freefalling, and head buzzing with the anticipated idea of the landing, Kojiro felt himself drop.

"WYAHHHHH!" His scream was almost deranged as he fell.

Down, down, down and …

He almost did not feel the crash as he was submerged under the water. It was deeper than he had thought, and he didn't even hit the bottom. But he had to get out of there before the falls could catch him in the endless churn below it. Quickly becoming reoriented, he swam away from the crashing falls and up for the top of the pool, breaking the surface with his face to the moon.

Although sore and slightly dizzy, Kojiro felt better than he normally did after landing, but his mind hardly lingered on this thought as he spun around to face up to the top of the waterfall.

He could hear the gokimon cackling and shouting up there just barely over the sound of water, but his mind was on Musashi and not the digimon. With a loud moan, he closed his eyes, sinking back into the water until its surface was just under his nose.

_Oh, Musashi … _he thought.

But he did not have long to brood as he heard the sound of rustling weeds at the edge of the pool.

"Nya!" cried a desperate pokémon as he emerged from the greenery. Black and blue and frazzled, Nyaasu glared at Kojiro a moment.

"Nyaasu?" asked Kojiro. "Are you okay?"

"Ny-ew strategy, Kojiro, nya," Nyaasu muttered, and as he spun his head in the direction of the waterfall, he lost his balance and collapsed on the ground, probably unconscious without finishing his thought.

Kojiro bit his lip, and began swimming for shore.

That was when he suddenly heard another sound very near him. Something bubbled in the water, and Kojiro stiffened in fright, preparing himself for the intruder.

Whatever it was, lifted out of the water, and a voice said cheerfully, "This sure is a strange place to decide to go swimming, don't you think?"

Gomamon.

Kojiro heaved a sigh of relief.

"Wait till you see the big glider some of our new pals are gunna let us borrow," Gomamon went on. "We got some digimon on our side here now. A lot of them were forced into working here, but with the glider, we can get to and from the village pretty easily." He laughed. "I knew you'd come, you know that, Kojiro?"

"Glider?" Kojiro asked.

Gomamon nodded. "Come on, get Nyaasu, and I'll show you."

Kojiro followed the digimon to shore, and he pulled himself painfully out of the water before helping Nyaasu to his feet.

"Oh … nya? Wha …?" Nyaasu murmured.

"Uh …" Kojiro turned to Gomamon, "He …"

"Gomamon," said Gomamon.

"Right, Gomamon," said Kojiro. "Gomamon says we can fly back to the village."

"Carry me, nya," Nyaasu whined, holding his paws out in front of him.

Kojiro shook his head but lifted the cat off the ground as Gomamon led the way for the glider, and it was a lovely little plane, more than a glider.

"Can you fly it?" asked Gomamon. "I'd fly it, but no one will let me."

Glancing down at the flippers, Kojiro could see why, but he chose not to say.

"Sure, I can fly it, if I don't pass out first," Kojiro said, clutching his now throbbing head with his free hand; Nyaasu climbed up onto Kojiro's shoulder and collapsed his face on the top of Kojiro's head.

"Then we'll just have to wait till the others show up," said Gomamon with a nod.

Kojiro was not exactly looking forward to that, considering what had happened and that he and Nyaasu had been forbidden to come here anyway.

#

"Ny-ow that's the second time I fell off a cliff, nya," Nyaasu complained, his shoulders slumping, but they suddenly arched up tensely again. "_Nya_!" he cried as the disinfectant touched the cut just above his eye.

"Hold still, Nyaasu," said Kojiro as he attempted to put on the bandage.

"I can't, nya," muttered Nyaasu, "ny-ot while you keep almost accidently getting stuff in my eye." The sting made it hard to sit still as it was.

That Musashi! Oh, was she going to get it. Nyaasu would show her how stupid she was being if it was the last thing he did! She couldn't go on like that. Musashi. But he could not be angry for long. The heat inside Nyaasu soon turned to worry, and he found himself hoping that she would be all right.

A heavy sigh followed as a response to Nyaasu's statement as Kojiro shook his head.

Lifting a brow, Nyaasu watched Kojiro carefully finish his work with the bandages, and then quickly put the icepack against his own head. Leaning back onto his free arm and rolling his eyes to the ceiling, it proved more than obvious that those strange gears worked yet again inside that blue mopped head of his.

A few weeks ago, Nyaasu would have called those gears rusted besides, but he was beginning to wonder if it was not so much that Kojiro lacked intelligence. Far from it, in fact. Nyaasu decided now that he probably always knew Kojiro wasn't stupid, but out of the trio to which Nyaasu belonged (and all three proved time again their eccentricities, to put it charitably) Kojiro's mind happened to be wired the oddest, or perhaps it was just how he expressed those thoughts that was weird. Nyaasu couldn't be sure. But, though all this passed through Nyaasu's mind rather quickly, he paused before asking the inevitable question in as few words possible.

"Nyah?"

Again Kojiro shook his head, but it seemed that he relented of his stubbornness even as he expressed it.

"I should go home …" Kojiro murmured.

An exaggerated lifting of Nyaasu's brow followed, and with eyes as large as his, the expression happened to be quite bizarre.

"Kojiro, now isn't the time to talk about this," said Nyaasu. "We all wan-nya go home, but—"

"_Home_ home," said Kojiro without looking at Nyaasu.

Kitty jaws dropped in disbelief. Had he heard that correctly? Nyaasu took it upon himself to shake an ear with a paw in attempt to clear his hearing.

"NYA!?" cried Nyaasu, leaping to his feet. "You don't mean that, Kojiro! If you went back home …! Well, you know what'll happen! Does the phrase Miss Daphn-nye de Muer's Rebecca mean anything to you?"

"No, I mean it, Nyaasu," said Kojiro.

"But, Kojiro! Rumika!" cried Nyaasu. "Remember?"

"Of _course_, I remember!" Kojiro snapped, suddenly quite shaken with rage in such a manner that Nyaasu instantly shut up and could only stare at his teammate blankly, but the rage soon subsided, and Kojiro looked away. "But my parents, Nyaasu."

"What about them?" Nyaasu demanded. "Besides the fact that they're ny-uts, nya?"

"They're my _parents_," said Kojiro, and he paused thoughtfully before he continued. "I know they've been very forceful about the marriage thing, and I still will never, _never_, _never,_ EVER marry Rumika, but my parents. They … I've been a bad son."

"Well, they've been bad parents, nya, so you're even, nyah," Nyaasu grumbled.

Kojiro closed his eyes and said nothing.

_Okay_, thought Nyaasu wearily, and hopping over to Kojiro's side he said cheerily, "Maybe you just need some sleep. Things couldn't be worse in the morning, nya?"

Kojiro shrugged.

"I guess," he said.

"Oh, come on, Kojiro, stop being so moody all the time," Nyaasu said. "You'll end up like the brat boy's torkoal, nya."

Although glancing up with an irritated brow, Kojiro could not hide the slight amusement on his face either. He leaned back onto his mat with hands behind his head as Nyaasu climbed into his hammock to rock it gently for a good self coxing. As Nyaasu glanced once more over the side before closing his eyes for good he saw a genuine smile turn his way, and to be honest, at first, it took the cat by surprise.

"We'll get Musashi back," Kojiro said with a deep nod.

Nyaasu's bug-eyed stare turned into a satisfied grin.

"There," he said, curling up in the hammock. "That's the Kojiro we know and love. We need more simple determination around here, nya."

"Wait," said Kojiro suddenly.

"Nya …" murmured Nyaasu sleepily.

"We didn't turn out the light," he said.

"Then go do that, will you, nya?"

A low grumbled came from the mat, but Kojiro complied. With the light doused, Nyaasu heard a loud yawn from his partner before he returned to his mat. Nyaasu caught the yawn next, and after a final stretch, he snuggled in for sleep, careful not to put any sores he had received that night into any uncomfortable positions.

"Good night, nya," sighed Nyaasu.

"Good night, Nyaasu."

Silence then fell, and the pair wafted off into the realm of sleep where minds fought over optimism and pessimism in wild dreams only half remembered by morning.

#

Morning dawned early for Musashi, and with a low growl, she quickly placed the blame on the pounding of the waterfall outside. Whose stupid idea was it to put the house at the waterfall anyway? It sure wasn't her idea!

Lifting her head groggily from her pillow, she rubbed her head and wiped the sleep from her eyes, but she still felt like going back to bed. She might have tried it, but she suddenly felt how dry her throat was and decided to order tea instead. Glancing behind her at the round, green button just off to the left of her headboard, she banged her fist into it. She knew it would be a mere moment before someone entered to attend to her needs.

Lickitongue, who had been sound asleep at the foot of her bed (Musashi still felt it better to leave him out for now, for if that stupid Picodevimon messed up, she could easy stun him again), awoke suddenly at the sound of the buzz, and lifted his head groggily.

Glancing down at the pokémon, Musashi thought that maybe she could let out Arbok as well. After all, Arbok fit the whole empress thing better than Lickitongue could. Arbok, with his regal, built-in headdress and his lithe, coiling body, and besides, she missed him somehow.

"Licki?" asked Lickitongue with the cock of his head.

A knock then sounded on the door. He must have heard the approach of the visitor before she had.

"Enter," said Musashi, straightening decorously.

A chumlimon soon entered the room.

_Ugly things_, she thought with extreme distaste.

Why were half the creatures here so incredibly ugly? Unfortunately, she found herself getting used to it.

"Musashi-sama!" exclaimed the chumlimon, bowing low. "What is your command, oh empress!"

"Two things," said Musashi, holding up her fingers appropriately. "One. I want some strongly brewed green tea. No. Black tea. Really strong. In one of those cute, western-styled tea cups. Victorian-esque! Two. Whose stupid idea was it to put this place behind a waterfall? It's way too noisy."

"Um …" said the chumlimon, twiddling his fingers. "_You_ wanted it here, Musashi-sama. We put wheels under the house and everything to get it up here through the cave."

Rubbing her head with extreme impatience she let out a look which bespoke, "I'm surrounded by idiots," but she did not say that. Instead for a moment, her mind rested on the events of the night before. Rage built first, but just before she exploded, she found herself thinking about Nyaasu sailing across the cave and being pushed over the side. She could not help a slight feeling of pity for the small teammate, landing on the ground on the other side of the cliff, and to think of Kojiro with soulful, puppy eyes looking upon her in terror. Sure, he looked like that at her often enough. Sure, Nyaasu probably experienced far worse pain than falling off a cliff. Hey, she and Nyaasu fell off a cliff together not long ago! Not to mention all the painful landings in their own world after a day of dismal failures. But she felt a tinge of regret now that she had reacted as she had. Even if the way in which Nyaasu had wanted to go about it made her want to smack him again, Musashi knew deep down that her friends had only come to rescue her …

"Is that all you want, Musashi-sama?" asked the chumlimon.

They had gone through so much together: she, Kojiro, and Nyaasu. She found herself wishing that they were here with her now.

The chumlimon, taking her silence as a "yes", began to leave the room, but just as he stepped through the doorway, Musashi held out her hand to stop him. "_Chotto matte_!"

"Yes, Musashi-sama?" asked the chumlimon with a bow as silly and as exaggerated as ever.

"Get Picodevimon in here," Musashi replied tersely. "I want to talk to him."

"Yes, Musashi-sama," said the chumlimon. "Right away." And he left, closing the door behind him.

Lickitongue turned to his master, and Musashi looked back.

"Li?" asked Lickitongue.

"What?" she snapped darkly.

With a few growing sweat drops and a jump of alarm, Lickitongue quickly turned away.


	28. Kidnapped

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT:

Kidnapped

A day passed uneventfully. Mostly there was just talking. No action. It drove Gomamon nuts! He hated when they couldn't get stuff done right away. Tailmon and Gomamon had that in common, but they also had in common a maturity (_unfortunately in some ways_, Gomamon thought) that they learned through their experienced, deceptively long years. They would not allow themselves or anyone else to do anything too rash, but Gomamon was beginning to lose patience.

And speaking of rash, Nyaasu, even after what had happened behind the water fall was ready to go back the moment he woke up!

"Good for him," Gomamon said to himself with a pleasant chuckle, but they could not let him yet.

While Nyaasu and Kojiro had gone for the source, Musashi, Gomamon and the rest of the digimon gang had discovered some valuable information. They found out that the place was surrounded by guards, that the Jade Empress intended to expand her dominion, that the trench was merely going to be a moat and had no other value than that, and that digimon were being daily gathered under her rule. It was frightening, that's what it was, and every one moment they wasted here talking, lost Musashi and gained the empress and put more pain on any peaceful digimon surrounding her.

So what were they going to do about it?

"What if we cause a diversion, and then Kojiro and Nyaasu slip out with her?" asked Piyomon.

"Ah, ah," said Neamon. "You forgot that she doesn't want to come."

"We could try kny-ocking her out again," Nyaasu suggested with a shrug.

Kojiro winced quite visibly.

"Well …" Agumon started.

"Actually," said Tailmon. "It may be the only way."

Cocking his head, Nyaasu swung to Tailmon. "Nya?"

Inhaling between his teeth, Kojiro shook his head. "She's going to be really angry when she wakes up," he said.

"Well, it would be better than having her backed up with an army of digimon, now wouldn't it?" said Gomamon with a grin.

Kojiro stared a moment, wide-eyed and then said shakily, "You don't know Musashi." Here he even shivered a little, seeming at some past memory. Nyaasu too seemed to become strangely solemn and fearful, but Kojiro quickly regained himself, and added quite resolutely, "If we do that, we'll be the enemies, and she'll never give it up." He clicked the roof of his mouth and held up a sage finger. "We have only one choice and that's to convince Musashi to leave herself."

The digimons' eyes widened.

"Nya … _mushi, mushi_, Kojiro," said Nyaasu, closing his eyes and rubbing his head as if a sudden headache had fallen upon him. "How are we going to that, nya?"

"Yeah, how are we going to do that?" Gomamon demanded.

All wisdom and resoluteness vanished from Kojiro then, and after one or two blank blinks, he lowered his head in defeat. "I don't know."

"Well," said Nyaasu, crossing his arms staunchly. "I don't kny-ow about anyone else, but I say we break for lunch, nya!"

"O-o-o!" gasped Neamon, raising his hand excitedly and shaking it up in the air. "I second that!"

"How can we think on empty stomachs?" Nyaasu demanded.

With a hand over his stomach Kojiro nodded. "Now that you mention it …"

"Beats me!" interrupted Neamon to Nyaasu's query, and he leapt to his feet.

"Oh! I want lunch too!" cried Piyomon.

"Me too!" Agumon agreed with an eager nod.

"Me three!" Palmon piped up as well.

Gomamon turned to Tailmon with an amused smile, but Tailmon only shook her head and rolled her eyes. A groan even followed, and Gomamon slipped to her side.

"Come on, Tailmon," he said with a touch of playful cheek. "Let's fill up the children." He winked.

"I ain't ny-o child, nya," Nyaasu sniffed smartly.

Gomamon laughed. "Then if you ain't no child, you go and get the food, 'kay?"

Stiffening, Nyaasu's eyes narrowed at him a moment with paws clenched defensively at his sides.

"Hey, come on, Nyaasu, I'll help you," said Kojiro with a bright grin.

From Kojiro to Gomamon, Nyaasu's eyes darted back and forth, and releasing a heavy sigh, he led the way in a formal march to the kitchens in the hall, thrusting a finger out the way they should go.

Again Gomamon chuckled to himself, and he watched until the pair was out of sight. Then turning again to Tailmon, he said, "They're not so bad, Tailmon."

Now it was Tailmon who sighed, though, a tad lighter and sadder than the first cat's exaggerated exhale.

"I don't know …" she muttered.

"Hey, come on, Tailmon," said Gomamon kindly. "I mean it. I think this place has done them good, and when we get Musashi back, things will be different for all of them. I believe that!"

Tailmon smiled. "I hope so."

But the happy moment was not to last. As they waited for Kojiro and Nyaasu's return with the food, they found time slipping on and on, and not a scent of lunch could be smelled much less the sight of the human and his cat.

Agumon threw a confused look at his companions.

"Where are they?"

Gomamon turned to the hall. "I'll go get 'em."

"I'm sure they're okay," said Palmon.

"Sure, but if they're eating without us," Gomamon teased, "I'm getting in on it too."

"Me too!" cried Neamon.

"I'm just joking," Gomamon said.

"I'm not," Neamon assured him.

Gomamon shrugged, and together he and Neamon went into the hall.

No voices.

_Strange_, Gomamon thought.

They neared the kitchen. Something was cooking, but when Neamon opened the door, both his and Gomamon's faces fell to the floor. No one was in sight, but someone had certainly been here!

Hardly one item remained on the shelf. Why no one had heard the items fall, Gomamon could not fathom. The place was a mess. Rice was spilled out along with flour, beans, eggs, meat, miso, soy sauce, vegetables … well it was an uncooked stew all over the floor, and the simple fireplace had been lit with an empty pot hanging over the top. The cover of the pot had been dropped in the fireplace itself.

"The waste of beans …" murmured Neamon gloomily. "Why?"

With mouths still hanging open, Gomamon and Neamon turned to the window; it had been flung wide open.

Neamon gasped, and Gomamon who finally clamped his mouth shut, dove for the window and stared outside. Absolutely no sign of either Kojiro or Nyaasu could be seen anywhere, and from where Gomamon stood, he could see the new borrowed glider in complete ruin, obvious sabotaged to hinder the rescue of the pair.

"They were kidnapped!" Gomamon cried.


	29. Golden Opportunities and Silver Platters

JMJ

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE:

Golden Opportunities and Silver Platters

_Nya, the subject of the ever elusive, just out of reach, little mouse known as Pikachu. Our obsession. Just about everyone who knew us knew us by our obsession sooner or later. We were the ones who would not rest until we brought that annoying creature before the feet of the Boss like any cat bringing the present of a mouse at his owner's feet. Did we ever think we would reach the goal? Well, speaking for myself, I certainly thought so. The brat boy would have to slip up eventually, nya? I mean it was either get Pikachu or die trying, and we certainly weren't near death yet, nya!_

_And, nya! What we put up with to reach that goal. We faced down starvation, humiliation, pain, discouragement, insanity even. Nothing would get in our way! We pushed our way through storms of the century, been poisoned and infected with the wildest assortment of items (lots of them our own), not to mention attacked and thrown sky high by every single pokémon known to man. Yes, _yana kanji_. We entangled ourselves in other villains' plots, we tripped, we almost drowned, we disguised ourselves in the most ridiculous ensambles even if Musashi and Kojiro happened to like them, go figure, nya, and we got the dust from that kid's feet thrown in our faces as we chased after his heels no matter where he went or what he did or how many times he found us out! So what was the point? Why wouldn't we give it up?_

_Principle, simply, principle. We had started out so on top of the game. We couldn't have been field agents otherwise. We personalized our gear, personalized our appearance, and we gave it all we were worth, quite personally. If you haven't known by now, isn't it obvious that we had nothing else? Team Rocket was out lives, plain and in your face. When we lost to a rookie trainer with a pokémon just barely starting his training, we were furious! We would not stand for that kind of humiliation — ironic, nya, the type of humiliation we would soon endure because of our decision. Going so far as to become the laughing stock of Team Rocket, but nya! It made us happy. I guess that's all that counts. We had optimism. One day our _yana kanji_ would turn to _ii kanji, _nya. One day soon; we could feel it!_

_And while we were in the digital world, that's at first all that kept us going, the thought we would one day return to that simple life and achieve our only real goal. Yes, to catch Pikachu, but really just power and riches, what else did villains want? After a while, I must admit that Kojiro's mind and even my mind turned elsewhere, not uncommon for us really, considering the circumstances, but considering the circumstances, Musashi should have been right along with us, in theory. Just like whenever something bad happened to us, we were preoccupied for a time. We might have even considered quitting Team Rocket. We would go back to the way we were the moment we returned._

_But this time was turning out very differently, and even then I was not sure Kojiro would ever be the same. Another problem then was Musashi, of course. Why she was acting more stubborn than usual, neither of us could imagine, and we did not try to, but looking back I think it may have been a reaction to what had happened to Kojiro. I think I might have been the only one acting the way we would be expected to act, and whether that was a good thing or a bad thing is really beside the point. All I knew was that being stuck between those two would be the death of me! Nya._

#

At every moment, Kojiro and Nyaasu thought that for sure they were going to fall as they watched the jungle fly past beneath them. Under the buzzing wings and held in the careless arms of the gokimon, there seemed a likely chance of being forgotten and dropped to the ground. Maybe even on purpose!

But though the two agents wailed and screamed and cried and whined, nothing happened the whole way back to the construction site of the Jade Empress.

Then as the site approached, Kojiro felt another gripping fear. If by Musashi's orders the gokimon brought him and Nyaasu here, then what awful plans did Musashi have in store for them? How far gone had the evil, little digimon on the dresser that night Musashi ordered them to be flung from the cave, how far had he driven Musashi from who she was. Of course, even without digimon influence, Musashi was an unstoppable force when angered. Oh, he hoped this had nothing to do with rage. He really hoped so, and if it didn't, he certainly hoped that Nyaasu (or even he) might not say something to arouse a fury so great upon them that they might end up with more pain and more agony because of it.

The spray of the waterfall touched his face, and Kojiro could not help but close his eyes. It had nothing to do with getting wet. Nyaasu was still meowing angrily and trying to scratch their captors, and Kojiro simply braced himself for the events of the very near future once they found themselves behind the door of the quaint, fairytale cottage.

Since Kojiro was being carried by his arms, his legs had been swinging freely beneath him the whole flight here, and as the gokimon decided to land, they took no consideration in how or how hard they went about it. Though, Kojiro put out his feet with legs bent and trying with all wit to absorb the collision with the rocky ground, his ankle bones stick felt striking pain when his feet hit.

"Ghu-—!" Kojiro cried and cringed, but they had no time to relax his aching ankles as the gokimon shoved him towards the cottage.

Upon landing in the cave, Nyaasu's gokimon lost his grip, and the cat instantly began to scurry away. He would have made it too if another gokimon had not snatched him right up again by the scruff.

"Lemme go!" Nyaasu snarled, and in vain he swiped out with claws at the gokimon's face. "Nya! Nya! Nya!" He only ended in causing himself to spin on his own scruff, and finally accepted his inability to fight back, Nyaasu only let out a dangerous growl and let his fur stick up.

The gokimon only laughed.

"Come on!" said another gokimon, shoving Kojiro onwards again.

"Ouch!" Kojiro cried, and graced the captor with an ugly pout, even if he did quickly obey the command.

In through the door, they burst, and Kojiro's eyes widened. Nyaasu turned to Kojiro curiously, and upon seeing the look on his partner's face he turned to look as well. His expression was no less than Kojiro's.

The cottage looked a lot bigger on the inside than on the outside. It started with that. Kojiro might not even have known that they stepped into the same building as they had seen outside, but everything seemed possible in the digital world. Hey, if there could be a cottage behind a waterfall, there could be a mansion inside a cottage. Okay, it was a little less likely, but whatever the cause, this simply got Kojiro to wondering why Musashi needed a castle if she already had the splendor inside here?

A definite, original motif dominated the place. Jade, black and gold were the main colors used, and a cold, metallic somewhat modern feel enraptured the otherwise quite baroque delicateness of the décor. The stairs grew black and gold metallic vines snaking their way in and around the railing. The pictures and statues, although also metallic appeared ancient and all had a sharp-edged style and a cold glint about them. The floor gleamed bright jade green; though, if it truly was real jade, Kojiro could not be sure.

A sudden weight on his head made Kojiro jump, but as he looked up, he saw only Nyaasu, who somehow materialized from the floor beside him to his new location in typical catlike manner.

Kojiro took great note in how life like the statues were, not to mention that most were made of the same jade substance as the floor, except that one or two were painted up very near real in themselves. In fact, after stepping under a broad archway, the one Kojiro saw of the lady on the chair with the arbok wrapped around the back seemed so incredibly real, he thought for certain he had heard the arbok hiss.

Double take.

The tongue of the arbok had slid out of his mouth too, and both his and Nyaasu's eyes widened even wider than before as they beheld the woman in her incredibly elaborate black and green gown and delicate gold cloak, her equally elaborate and delicate tiara, and the white face behind the puff of decorated hair in all braided and tied elegance in a manner that would have put the hair styles of the Queen of Naboo to shame. But through all the stylized trappings and sharp-edged delicacy, that woman could be only one person.

Kojiro and Nyaasu glanced at each other and then back at the woman and their mouths dropped in utter, gawky disbelief.

"Musashi?!" they cried.

Musashi, who had been sitting quite stiff and straight, hunched slightly now, and squinted with the dangerous leer that matched that of her pokémon behind her.

"That's Musashi-sama to you!" growled a strange voice echoing in the chamber into which they had just entered in upon this throne.

Turning, Kojiro and Nyaasu watched, still very blank in disposition as the ugly, round, batlike creature that was Picodevimon landed on a jade perch not far from the throne.

"Nya!" Nyaasu shouted. "I know you, nya!

Kojiro turned to Nyaasu, shaking violently on top of his head.

"You do?" he asked, rather befuddled.

Ignoring him, Nyaasu leapt to the floor and pointed a wild paw. "You're that guy with the chumlimon who tied me up and—"

"_Yamero_!" Musashi snapped.

Kojiro and Nyaasu jumped, but Kojiro knew this could not go on. Now he jumped out in front of Nyaasu, spreading out his arms pleadingly and cried, "Please, Musashi, you have to listen to us. That thing's just—"

"I said, stoppit!" said Musashi again.

The pair cringed.

"See, Musashi-sama?" said Picodevimon turning then brightly to the Jade Empress. "We've brought them to you just as you commanded." His grin turned very wicked as he bowed with otherwise all reverence in front of what used to be Kojiro's Team Rocket partner. "What are we going to do with them, oh, Jade Empress? Lock them up? Boil them in oil?"

"Leave the room," said Musashi. Her face had been contorting more and more the longer the digimon spoke.

"What?" asked Picodevimon; now he was the one confused.

"You heard her. Shoo," Nyaasu said, waving a paw pompously aside.

Ignoring Nyaasu completely, Musashi leapt up from her throne and thrust a rigid finger nearly between Picodevimon's eyes.

"I said, LEAVE!" she snarled, and turning sharply away with a sweep of her robes and a swish of her red hair, she added, "You know what will happen if you don't obey." Here she lifted a pokéball tauntingly from behind a stylized obi, and her smile she loosed was ever so vile.

With a quivering nod, Picodevimon backed away and flew off into the shadows.

The moment, he disappeared, Musashi stepped down the steps of the throne to ground level, Arbok slithering close behind.

"Why'd you bring us here, nya!" cried Nyaasu, now leaping in front of Kojiro.

"Yeah, what's going on, Musashi? What do you want with us?" Kojiro gasped, snatching Nyaasu up and squeezing him tightly. "Why do you have that _thing_ around?"

Musashi did not seem to hear the last question, but as she stopped in front of the pair, her cold eyes softened, and she looked with grave pity on her partners for a moment, causing both to hold their breaths in fear. Her head lowered to the ground.

"Well, I … missed you guys," she said in a very small, almost frail, voice.

"Missed us?" said Kojiro in surprise.

Nyaasu growled. "What do you mean 'missed' us, nya?!"

Kojiro had to share the sentiment of his vehement companion. Musashi had had them kidnapped, thrown around like old, rag dolls across the jungle, and scared witless as they were brought here just because she missed them? What kind of selfish "miss" was that?

"There could have been a better way to see us without torturing us to get us here!" Kojiro pointed out.

"N-yeah!" Nyaasu agreed. "You could've come to _us_, nya!"

Musashi staunchly crossed her arms. "Why would I want to go back to that stupid village?" she demanded.

Kojiro and Nyaasu again looked at each other and back to their confusing partner.

"Nya?" Nyaasu wanted to know. "Well, cuz we were there, maybe, nya?"

"They just want us to save the world," Musashi said stiffly, and she straightened to the dignity of her so-called title. "They don't really care about the fact that we don't want to be here and want to go home."

"And these digimon _do_?" Kojiro snapped.

"I didn't say that," replied Musashi lightly, and she paused before adding, "They just respect me. I'm their empress."

"'Empress' is just English and feminy-ine for 'Kaiser', nya," Nyaasu pointed out.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" the empress snorted. "I have everything under control here, and if that freak Picodevimon doesn't behave he'll be licked or poison stinged." Here she stroked Arbok languidly down his neck, and after a moment, she threw a careless hand aside. "Besides, I guess that means you don't want the sumptuous meal that I had planned for your arrival."

Kojiro gulped.

Oh, come on, Musashi, don't mess with our stomachs, he thought.

But Nyaasu brightened considerably by the idea.

"Meal, nya?" he asked. "As in empress-sized feast?"

"Maybe," said Musashi, tossing her head away after her hand, and she smiled at Kojiro. "Aren't you hungry, Kojiro?"

Nyaasu gave Kojiro a friendly slap on the leg. "Sure, he is, nya! Sure he is! Aren't you, Koji, nya?"

"Uh …" Kojiro started. "Well, we didn't get to eat lunch, and I _am_ pretty hungry, but …"

"Then come on!" cried Musashi happily, and she snatched Kojiro by the arm before he could protest. "Don't be shy. You're a man, Kojiro. A man's got to eat like one, right?"

"Uh …" Kojiro started again.

Throwing a hand toward a gokimon, Musashi ordered the doors to be opened and to be led to the dining room.

The gokimon bowed lowed and obeyed in silence. Once having opened the wide pair of doors behind the throne and sweeping their arms and antennae in the direction the Jade Empress meant to go, one of the gokimon then led the way down the darkened hall.

Kojiro could not help but shudder. An uneasy feeling grew in the pit of his stomach, and it had nothing to do with hunger, although his stomach did growl as the enticing, cooking smells teased his nose and formed images of food hot, steamed, roasted, skewered, and every other form of preparation ready for eating. He even caught his mouth watering. Something else pestered his stomach, though, as if he already had eaten and it had been quite disagreeable and had not meant to be eaten.

Nevertheless, he allowed Musashi to drag him down the corridor without the smallest complaint, and with Nyaasu just in front of them, it would be impossible to get his attention without arousing Musashi's.

So after a few steps which felt miles long, the trio and the gokimon finally stopped in front of another large pair of black-wood doors with golden trim. These doors creaked forward painfully at the push of the gokimon servant, and as the light from inside poured out into the corridor and bathed the trio and the gokimon in the warmth and sweet scent of lunch, Kojiro's mouth slowly and unwittingly opened with longing at what he saw.

A more sumptuous meal could not be had. Even the meals at the lavish balls thrown by his parents in his aristocratic childhood could not compare to this feast. Piles upon piles of everything imaginable. Meat from Turkey to Pork to buffalo. Salads, vegetables, fruits, puddings, cakes, wines, breads, muffins, cookies, candies, sandwiches, fishes, chowders, pizzas, burgers, shakes, and tons of caviar. Not to mention the more traditional tsukemono, white rice, and soups and noodles: udan and soba. There was sushi of every variety under the sun, fish. Oh! And the condiments! Let's not forget the condiments! Everything from ketchup to wasabi to green chili sauce to honey to peanut butter. Let's just say that there was so much on the table and in such a mounded disarray that it proved difficult to say what all the meal had to offer. The mad tea party ten times over. They could be sitting at the table, moving down a seat in Mad Hatter and March Hare style for quite some time!

Thoughts of cold, hungry nights after days of failures in getting Pikachu or any other pokémon or any other "Team Rocket business" for that matter sailed through Kojiro's mind. A part of him thought quite clearly that he deserved this meal to make up for every lost or severely deficient meal he had ever had, which was even more than his _yana kanji_s. He might have fainted clean away from the sight of all this food, but he did find himself drooling all that had been watering inside of his mouth prior to this point, and Nyaasu proved no better in this regard.

Musashi smiled with deep satisfaction, and ordered a pair of chumlimon (who had apparently been cooks judging by their chef hats and aprons) to pull back the chairs for her guests. Yes, she called them guests. Esteemed guests, in fact.

The chimlimon obeyed, but Nyaasu did not even wait to be seated as he pulled up a chair of his own accord in front of a place with an excessive amount of fish. Kojiro on the other hand was led by Musashi who eventually had to push him towards the chair which the gokimon had pulled out for him.

Rubbing his shoulder a moment where Musashi had shoved, Kojiro then plopped himself into the chair and found himself pushed up to the table just as his wine glass was being filled. Musashi sat down too at the head of the table, and once she had situated herself, Nyaasu popped his head out from under his fish piles and wiped his mouth on the back of his paw. He grinned widely at Kojiro and held up a wine glass of his own. Musashi did likewise, and Kojiro who could not fight it anymore, held up his glass just in time for Nyaasu's toast, "To the feast, nya!"

"To the feast!" echoed Musashi and Kojiro, and although, Musashi (not nearly as hungry as her companions), sipped with all ladylike grace to fit her title, Kojiro and Nyaasu had their glasses sucked dry in complete unison within less than a moment.

Then the feasting began.

Ravenously did they eat at first, even though they weren't nearly as underfed as they had been in the past. The thoughts of what this feast would have looked like the day before they arrived in the digital world was too much to fight back. Hey, it would have looked like heaven to Kojiro when he had been first separated from Musashi and Nyaasu, and that had been in the Digital World. He was shoveling it all into his mouth faster than he could breathe. He practically ate bite whole the moment they entered his mouth, and he ate and ate until finally the food hit his stomach. Not the bottom of his stomach, just his stomach at all, and he finally caught hold of his mind enough to control his stomach.

With a hand holding a half-eaten slice of key lime pie just before his mouth, he turned slowly to Musashi, who must have slowed down before him. Maybe she had not eaten as fast as he did the entire meal. He could not be certain. That in itself felt a little unnerving since she usually ate just as fast, if not faster, than the other two. Regardless of this fact, however, Kojiro looked up and down at her elaborate hair and clothes, and white face, and he suddenly felt that he had lost what remained of his appetite.

He set the pie piece down on his plate.

Nyaasu was still eating oblivious to all else but his stomach and his food.

"Something wrong with your lunch, Kojiro?" Musashi asked.

Kojiro shook his head.

"No," he breathed. "Everything's wonderful!"

He could not deny it, and his words were spoken with more fervor than he had even intended.

A light shrug activated from Musashi, but Kojiro knew she was still skeptical. Both his and Musashi's eyes moved to Nyaasu now, and the cat did not look like he would be stopping any time soon. They looked back each other and then once more at Nyaasu, and Musashi shook her head.

Lifting his pie piece again, Kojiro now only slowly finished it off, and all the while wondering where all this food had come from. Then again if a cottage could be behind a waterfall and be a palace on the inside and that all the pokémon-like creatures could talk, or that he had even escaped the dark tower of Vamdemon (that last thought, really made him lose his appetite) then he supposed the digimon could have access to all this food.

Closing his eyes, Kojiro pushed his plate away. Having already eaten a large turkey leg, two bowls of udan noodles, a burger, a plate of cookies, and two pieces of pie, he did not need any more anyway, even though he could eat much more. He suddenly remembered what Nyaasu had said about "empress" being pretty much the same thing as "Kaiser". He remembered the feeling of ill ease about the situation. He certainly remembered the horrid, little Picodevimon. Although, the surroundings were far more accommodating than what he had experienced in the tower, Musashi was still being destroyed just as the Limomon had tried to do to him. The viruses were being more seductive with Musashi.

Kojiro swallowed hard, and with head still lowered to the table, he glanced up at Musashi through the columns of platters and bowls.

"Musashi …" he whispered.

Musashi looked up alert to his words, but just at that moment Nyaasu interrupted with a great sigh as he finally finished his meal.

"Nya, _oishii_!" he gasped. "I wish I could eat like this every day, nya!"

Leaning back in his chair lazily he looked liable to take a nap.

"So," said Musashi, slamming her fist on the table. "How 'bout the parlor? Or the hot tub?"

"Hot tub?" Nyaasu said, suddenly animated once again. Standing up on his chair, he pounded the table after Musashi's example. "I second that."

Then both the cat and the young woman looked to Kojiro for a third "that", but Kojiro said nothing of the kind, nor was his expected enthusiasm added to the team. Turning to Nyaasu he said instead, "Nyaasu, we're not staying remember?"

"Well, n-yeah, sure, but …" Nyaasu looked at Musashi's flashing leer and back to Kojiro before simply closing his eyes and slumping back down in his chair. "Musashi, don't you wan-nya go home? I thought you were the one who kept saying that we should just focus on that, nya."

"But you haven't heard the best part yet," Musashi said smartly.

"What's that?" grumbled Kojiro.

"Well, if you two are going to be such sticks in the mud, I may just decide not to tell you, hmph!" She spoke in a manner which told that she wanted the other two to beg for the answer, and Kojiro and Nyaasu, although perfectly aware of this fact, had to admit that her tactic was making them very curious.

"Come on, Musashi, nya," said Nyaasu.

"What's the good news?" Kojiro wanted to know. "We're leaving now, and you'll come with us?"

Musashi snorted, unable to keep up the act with her disgust.

"No," she said, then paused. "Well, yes, but not just yet. I'm going to establish my kingdom here. Ha, ha! My empire!"

Kojiro was grateful that Musashi did not notice Nyaasu's roll of his eyes.

"Someone in this stupid place is bound to know the way out, and although I only half believe him, Picodevimon said—"

"Picodevimon's a liar!" snapped Nyaasu suddenly.

"He's a virus!" cried Kojiro.

"Even if he does kny-ow the way out, he won't tell you, nya!"

Kojiro leapt from his chair and dove for Musashi at the head of the table. Pulling desperately on her arm, he practically knelt before her but certainly not in respect to her title. It was only the pleading of a friend, yes, friend. Not partner. Who cared about what Team Rocket would think? Who cared what their enemies would think? He just wanted to save himself and his friends, and he was not afraid to think that he downright loved his friends. Yes, _loved_! And the thought of either Musashi or Nyaasu being seduced by this sadistic trickery made him want to pull out his hair and scream right there. He managed to keep it down to mere begging, which unfortunately was not something he usually had a problem with doing.

"Please!" he sobbed. Crying was never anything he usually had a problem with doing either, even if it did make him feel degraded most of the time, but this was not one of those times. "Please, Musashi! Let's just go! Let's just go, Musashi. They don't care about you!"

"But you still haven't let me finish," said Musashi.

She was trying to act as though she had not been moved by Kojiro's display, but both Nyaasu and Kojiro knew far better.

Even still Nyaasu felt it needful to add, "They're playing with you, nya."

Surprising, Musashi smiled, and Kojiro could not help but shudder as he watched her smile turn vile. Oh, it was a smile he had seen many times before back when they were chasing down pokémon and Musashi wanted something. When Musashi knew exactly how to get it. Following the direction of the smile towards Nyaasu, he clutched the arm of Musashi's chair very tightly for dear life. Then slowly, quite snakelike, Musashi slithered across the floor to Nyaasu's chair.

Nyaasu himself looked quite uneasy, and Kojiro could only watch helplessly as Musashi began her vixen act.

"Nyaasu," she said playfully.

"Ny—nya …" said Nyaasu.

"You're telling me that you don't want a share in the spoils?"

"Nya …" Nyaasu said again.

She leaned an arm lazily along the back of the chair and placed her chin comfortable into her palm while the other hand swung onto her hip.

"You don't want an entire digimon army to back us up once we return to our world?" Musashi cooed. "Count Nyaasu? Duke Nyaasu? Commander Nyaasu? Who could stop us? We wouldn't even need Team Rocket. We could start our own team."

"Our own team, nya?" gasped Nyaasu.

Again Kojiro watched in helpless agony as Nyaasu listened to these enticing words, his eyes widening so that they took up most of his head.

"And the _spoils_, Nyaasu," said Musashi, and she quickly ordered a koemon to grab one of the many chests along the wall.

Once it had been brought forth, Musashi snatched the chest away and opened it for Nyaasu to see.

Hefty pearls glistened inside. Round and shiny, like tiny full moon, they reflected a solar system of delight dancing in Nyaasu's massive, Siamese blue eyes.

"_Nya-a-a-aah_ …"

Only then did Kojiro snap to his senses, and he jumped to his feet in protest.

"Musashi, stop!" he ordered.

A quick glare was all he received from Musashi, but Nyaasu had gathered his senses for the moment as well, and looked at Kojiro with severe longing and silently begging him to allow this exception to their plans.

"Nyaasu," said Kojiro.

The cat looked at Musashi and then back at Kojiro and then, biting his lip he nearly cried over the beautiful pearls. With a melodramatic throw of his paw, he covered his eyes and growled, "Musashi, you're crazy!"

With a snort, Musashi threw the chest shut right on Nyaasu's other paw, which had previously found its way inside it.

"NYAH!" Nyaasu cried in pain.

He just barely managed to pull his paws free, and he threw firmly into his mouth to sooth it. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" he sobbed around his wrist, and through his pain and stinging, resentful tears he glared at Musashi.

Musashi did not pay the least bit of attention. It was difficult to say whether she even wounded the cat on purpose. Whether or not it satisfied her may be another question all together, but all attention had been completely stolen away by Kojiro's interruption.

"What's the matter with you?" she demanded, and straightening upright, she dropped the chest on the ground.

Nyaasu snatched his tail away even though it had hardly been in danger of being hit by the chest as he was still sitting in his chair.

Closing his eyes, Kojiro turned away.

"This is our chance, Kojiro," said Musashi, stepping back toward him. "Don't you guys want to finally get what we deserve? We'd be _unstoppable_."

"And you really believe that that thing's going to help you out of here?" asked Kojiro, but the strength in his voice quickly waned; the nearer Musashi approached him the smaller and weaker he felt.

"Kojiro," Musashi said, barely two feet away now. "We're Team Rocket, remember? Don't you remember what that 'R' on your shirt stands for?"

Kojiro could not look at her, and although he could not keep his eyes closed anymore, he still kept his head down to the side.

"Well, you're ny-ot wearing it, nya," Nyaasu pointed out.

"Hmph!" said Musashi not bothering to look behind her. "I'm the empress here. This is what we've always wanted. Power and wealth and esteem! We can go back to our world and make that brat boy beg us to take his pikachu." She sighed in the pure ecstasy of it all. "Just think, we could start our own team and call it Team Musashi. Set up underground. We don't send out human agents, we send out these digimon and no one will ever find us. We'll live like kings and we can have Pikachu perform for us in a little bird cage thing. The boss will have to come to us for a change! We'll monoploze the whole region — no! The _world_! We'll never have to worry about anything ever again. No one will be able to defeat us!"

Kojiro could picture this and very well too, just as any scheme that they had come up with in their world. All glittery and golden in some near future that in the past would have emboldened their greedy hearts with strength for the day at least before another _yana kanji_. Sure, this was a bit much, even by their standards, but he also knew that it would not work. These digimon were only her servants to destroy her, and even if they weren't, she would be the master. Nyaasu and Kojiro would be her slaves. He could not help but remember the time when they went to a town in which all the girls could get whatever they wanted free of charge, and what had Musashi done? She had not shared this power with her teammates. She had made Kojiro and Nyaasu carry all her stuff as she ordered them about. This plan would be ten times worse, for they would be slaves under an empress. Kojiro did not think there was a higher title in the world than that, and they would suffer under her might as she became continually crueler and crazier until …

"Musashi …" Kojiro whined, trying hard not to start crying. "I can't …"

"What do you mean, you can't!?" Musashi snapped, emerging frightfully from her rosy fantasy.

"Let's just get out of here!" Kojiro begged, "_Please_. You gotta know that they just want you to control you."

"But _I'm_ in control, Kojiro!" Musashi growled, and she held out her fist to bop him a good one but stopped. The fire in her eyes dimmed, and she turned away.

Kojiro continued to cower, waiting for the usual pained skull (among other body parts), he for some reason always put up with.

"Why can't you just be the way you were before," she growled.

Then Nyaasu said tersely, "Oh, just leave Kojiro alone, Musashi, nya. He just doesn't want us to do something stupid, and, nya, he's probably right this time."

Musashi's almost sympathetic look, soon hardened. Kojiro could pretty much see the redness of her rage fill up over her face to the top of her head. An explosion was eminent, and he was the nearest. He knew what would happen next, and he braced himself.

… But he didn't know at all.

"Nyaasu," Musashi growled.

Nyaasu glowered in return but said nothing.

"I won't stand for it!" she finished, turning away with drama queen flair.

"Won't stand for what?" asked Kojiro, quite confused.

Musashi leered at Nyaasu out of the corner of her eye. "Call me by my proper title."

With an exaggeratingly raised brow, Nyaasu's jaw slowly fell to the seat of the chair.

"Well?" warned Musashi.

A knot twisted tightly in Kojiro's stomach making his previous nausea worse, and Nyaasu's confused face contorted into another great and proud scowl.

"I will ny-ever call you _SAMA_!" Nyaasu screamed.

Musashi pounded her foot onto the floor, and right on cue (he had no doubt been lurking in that very room the whole time) Picodevimon emerged.

"Musashi-sama!" he gasped, swooping down onto a chair stratergically across the table from Musashi so that she could not lash out at him in case the fury escaped onto him. "What's happening? I heard yelling. I thought these were you're friends. They aren't committing treason against the Jade Empress, are they?"

"That _thing_!" Musashi snapped, thrusting a shaky finger between Nyaasu's dilating eyes. "That thing! That Nyaasu … I _hate_ him."

"What shall we do, o, Musashi-sama?" asked Picodevimon with a gallant bow.

"Punish him!" she snapped, arms thrust over her chest as she turned sharply away.

The grin that flashed upon the digimon's face, froze Kojiro to the core.

"How, Musashi-sama?" asked Picodevimon.

"I don't care," said Musashi, "just make him pay. Do what you want with him …" she paused, pursing her lip uneasily a moment, then turning to Picodevimon, she added darkly, "Just don't kill him."

"Oh, you honor me, Musashi-sama," sneered Picodevimon.

"Musashi, no!" screamed Kojiro. "Don't!"

But Musashi would not hear any of it as she ordered Nyaasu to be taken out of her sight.

"Come on, _Nyaasumon_," Picodevimon laughed, snatching him by the arm. "Let's catch up on things, shall we?"

Nyaasu growled and scratched him across the face.

"Ack!" cried the digimon

Leaping from the chair, Nyaasu grabbed Musashi's dress.

"Ny-o, Musashi, ny-o! Don't, nya! Tell him 'ny-o'!"

But the chumlimon were already aiding Picodevimon in prying Nyaasu away, his claws gripping onto Musashi's gown so that they had to rip them out. He screamed and cried and begged, but Musashi would not change her mind. She seemed more upset about her dress now than about Nyaasu.

"Kojiro, save me!" Nyaasu screamed. "She's crazy! Do something! Nyah!" and his screams turned simply to meows of terror as he was wrenched from the room, clawing and kicking all the way out.

Kojiro wanted to help. He wanted to do something, but he was frozen, helpless, and by the time he had gathered himself enough to fight back, the door had already slammed shut behind Nyaasu, his screams fading away as the digimon carried him to whatever torture they had planned.


	30. Mirror on the Wall

JMJ

CHAPTER THIRTY:

Mirror on the Wall

Kojiro turned roughly to Musashi. His entire body shook uncontrollably. He was not even sure he could actually believe what he had just witnessed.

"They're going to kill him!" he cried. "Musashi, call them off!"

"I told them not to kill him," said Musashi carelessly. "He'll be fine."

"But what if they kill him by _accident_?!" Kojiro screamed.

"They _won't_!" Musashi spat back.

"But MUSASHI!" snarled Kojiro, and without knowing what he did, he pushed Musashi with all his might.

With a wild shriek, Musashi fell to the ground, half tripping over her gown and cloak, and the sound of a rip or two could be found amidst the chaos as well.

Immediately, Kojiro regretted his act, but with heart still pounding and breath still frantic, he simply remained rooted where he stood, hands and teeth clenched so hard it hurt. He watched Musashi slowly pull herself onto her hands and knees, and the deathly look she gave him still was not enough to move him outwardly; though, the eyes sent an icy chill through his heart. He tried to tell himself that looks of that sort were not unusual for Musashi, but this was different. This whole thing was different.

_Stop trying to compare everything to the past!_ his mind screamed as Kojiro and Musashi, both unable to act, neither knowing what to do, simply locked their eyes upon the eyes of the other as they breathed heavily, passionately immobilized. _This is nothing like before! Nothing! And it will never be again!_

Kojiro had just seen Musashi send Nyaasu away into the morbid claws of Picodevimon.

The digimon had already destroyed her, hadn't they?

But another sickening thought crept over Kojiro's heart. Had there been much to destroy to begin with? For either him or Musashi? Did they deserve pity? Did they deserve help? Sure, all three in the Team Rocket trio had had their moments of kindness and compassion, but even Hitler probably had his moments of tenderness for certain people. That did not make him good. Musashi and Kojiro and Nyaasu too were all at fault with hearts blackened with abuse and hardened against the truth about themselves, against the broken dreams and betrayed relationships. But they were no better than those who hurt them. They tried to kill little children. Sure, now that he thought about it, if they had actually succeeded, he would have felt extremely guilty about killing someone, but he still would have done it. All three of them would have. They tried to steal their happiness. To blackmail with people's weaknesses. To destroy all truth and all love. Was there any crime they had not attempted? With lives run by pride, greed, envy, selfishness, gluttony — hey, they did not even eat their food without fighting over it — was it possible that any one of the trio truly cared about each other, or did they just fear being alone? Just another selfish desire among so many, because there was nothing left of them to care about anything but power and wealth and prestige just as Musashi had said?

Maybe it was a hopeless case …

Kojiro lowered his head.

_No_, Kojiro though, and shook his head. _Our hearts can't be solid stone. Not yet! Not if I have anything to say about it. It isn't hopeless._

"You just pushed me down!" Musashi finally gasped, but she appeared far more astonished than angry. "You never did that before!"

Lifting his head again to Musashi, very slowly and very timidly, he said, "I'm sorry, Musashi. I'm … I'm tired of this. It's going to stop now, and _you're_ coming with me."

Musashi stiffened, and pulled herself to her feet. "I'm not going with you!" she said, and paused. "What … what are you doing?"

Unzipping his zipper, he pulled the upper shirt of his uniform and let the "R" drop to the floor. Only his black tee-shirt remained. Musashi watched, uncertain as to the true significance of this action with her eyes wide in wonderment.

"I _quit_," Kojiro said, and turning, he marched for the door.

Musashi raised a hand to stop him, but it fell as soon as it rose. She turned away and heard the door open and slam shut behind Kojiro.

#

"Nyaasu!" Kojiro called, running through the halls. How could there be so many corridors in this cottage? "_Nyaasu_!" he called louder, cupping his hands around his mouth as he looked around him wildly.

There was no sign of him anywhere.

"Oh, Nyaasu …" Kojiro sobbed.

He opened every door he could, but always to a bodiless room, with only meaningless trappings and décor. Even still, he would check these rooms for any sign of a trap door or secret passage. The fifth door he tried was locked. He shook the handle, and called for Nyaasu again. Pushing his body as hard as he could against it, he called once more, but he only ended in hurting his shoulder.

Rubbing it a moment, he then decided to give the door a good kick. He kicked it one. He kicked it twice, and the third time, to lock broke, simply broke, and he tore into the room.

Nothing but an empty, clean bedroom.

Kojiro bit his lip. It occurred to as he looked out a window that Nyaasu may have been taken outside the cottage/mansion/whatever it was.

Turning sharply, he made a leap for the door, but stopped just as suddenly, almost tripping over himself.

"Ack!" he cried, reaching out blindly in front of him.

His hands latched onto the tall beams of the canopy above the silky bed. But his mind was hardly on silk or lace. His eyes immediately locked onto his reflection across from him.

At first, he thought the mirror hanging on the wall opposite the bed may be damaged or dirty, but there was something far more eerie at work than that. Perhaps it was a funhouse mirror, but he doubted it. His mind then was on both silk and lace and all the décor in this place, but as he stared at the image of himself, which was far worse looking than he imagined in itself, he noticed that the Kojiro in the mirror was not holding onto a green and golden, luxuriously carved bed canopy. The Kojiro in the mirror was hugging for dear life onto a splintered, mold-covered beam of particleboard.

Instantly, Kojiro leapt away from the bed. He stared beside him at the etchings of trees and flowers dancing in the gold and green paint. Then he threw his head back to the mirror. The particle board remained in the reflection.

_It must be a trick of some kind_, he thought, everything else momentarily forgotten, and he gulped as he dared to slink closer to the mirror. _Right?_

Behind the bed in the reflection, the wall was cement and scarred with scrapes and stains of the most undesirable kind, and the bed was not a bed at all but a large box. No, a coffin, really, for it looked to Kojiro that something dead was lying in there, but he could not make it out in the mirror. Kojiro looked behind him, but everything still looked as it had when he first entered the room … didn't it?

Once more he looked at the mirror, and saw how slimed with filthy he was, how sunken his eyes were, how his hair was so discolored it looked more like the color of throw up than soft lavender or grey-blue (depending on the lighting). There was something so miserable about his appearance, and yet he definitely looked like himself. Even still he might have pegged the Kojiro in the reflection as an entirely different person — a diseased clone or an insane twin.

Was that really what he looked like?

Kojiro squeezed his eyes shut, shook his head, and turning back into the room, he slowly opened his eyes again. What he saw then almost made him faint clean away.

The images of the wealthy palace were still there, but they waved about dizzily like a fading dream. Kojiro almost lost his balance as he took a step forward in this shimmering illusion, and illusion it was, for sometimes behind this dreamy imagery he could see the solid shapes for what he had seen reflected to him in the mirror.

For a moment he threw his head to the door and then he stepped back further into the room a few paces before snatching the mirror from its spot on the wall. No moment could be spared. He ran back into the corridor almost slamming face-first into the wall.

"Musashi!" he screamed as he was re-orientated and sped off in the right direction. "MUSASHI!"

#

"Musashi!"

"Huh?" Musashi looked up at the door in surprise, and Kojiro blasted through the doors like a madman.

"Musashi!" he gasped through wild panting breaths. "Musashi!"

"What?"

"Yes, what's wrong with you?" Picodevimon demanded, again materializing almost from thin air.

Kojiro hardly graced him a glance. He jumped in front of Musashi, still clutching the mirror tightly, and Picodevimon's eyes widened with recognition as he realized what he held.

"Musashi-sama!" cried Picodevimon. "Don't listen to this stupid boy! He doesn't know anything. You said so yourself, remember?"

"No!" shrieked Kojiro. "No, look, just look, please!"

"It's nothing Musashi-sama, just the babbling of an idiot. Pay him no mind."

"Well," snapped Musashi taking in a deep breath as she took a steady step toward Kojiro. "If he's just babbling like an idiot, why should you care? And if you don't get off my dress, right now, I'll rip you apart MYSELF!"

Picodevimon backed off from the face full of teeth and fiery eyes in his own face, but not without the ugliest of leers to Kojiro as Musashi snatched the mirror away from him.

All life froze.

Even Arbok had stopped in his mid slither to get in on the commotion, and he raised his head into a typical snakelike stillness at this sudden change.

At first, Musashi seemed to have become more inanimate than Arbok; she was a statue of some strange artist, very lifelike and odd. Kojiro could feel his heart pounding so hard it might be liable to break right through his chest, and the silence made it sound like a battle drum. Then a sound. A Cinderella slipper shoe echoed upon the jade tiled floor, if it truly was a jade floor. Kojiro really doubted it.

Musashi, anyway, stepped back a pace. Her eyes became very round and quite massive as the pupils shrunk to flea-sized specs. Then her teeth began to set as all color drained completely from her face. She swung her head behind her, then back to the mirror, to the table, and back again. Then with tears swelling and body stiffening, she looked about to implode.

"Musashi-sama," said Picodevimon with a careful chuckle. "It's only data digimon trickery. It's nothing to—"

Crash!

The mirror struck the floor like lightning, and Musashi's scream pierced the air as a banshee wail in a storm-whipped moor.

Kojiro found himself cringing and dropping to the floor into a squat, covering his head against the gale.

"M-Musashi-sama!" said Picodevimon. "It's just an illusion, a trick to take your throne!"

Musashi threw her crown off her head and would have hit Picodevimon with it if he had not dashed up into flight. He leapt onto a chair.

"_Iya_!" cried Musashi and ripped the cloak from her back and kicked the chair upon which Picodevimon had perched.

Kojiro slowly turned and rose to his feet.

"Musashi …" he whispered, but of course in her fit she could not hear him.

The dreamy images were fading in and out, and Kojiro pulled his head away again, unwilling to know what the food really was. He was not sure he could handle seeing what he had really eaten. It was already making him queasy as if he wasn't queasy enough already.

"Musashi-sama, have mercy, and listen! It's a trick! A trick I tell you!"

"You lied to me!" screamed Musashi. "AND I WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO _LISTEN_ TO YOU!"

Dishes then began to shatter, first from the frantic hops of Picodevimon, but very soon by the hands of Musashi. She threw everything her hands could get a hold of at the nasty creature. All the while she still pulled trappings and pieces from her gown and hair ties. Finally, she had him by the wing and snatched him off the table, throwing him to the ground.

She did not seem to care what happened to him after that. She stared into space, her face as pale as paste. Then squeezing her eyes shut, she threw herself onto the ground as well. She buried her face in her arms with her ear to the floor.

Sobs and wails were all that followed.

It took a moment or two for Kojiro to find himself, but the second he did, Kojiro dove to her side and fell onto the grimy, stone floor beside her. He grabbed the tattered rags that were Musashi's clothes, and held onto her shoulders.

"Musashi," he said.

Musashi pulled roughly away. "I can't stand it! I can't stand it! I can't stand it! What did I _bathe_ in?! Wa-a-a-ah!"

"Come on Musashi, we …" his voice trailed off as he suddenly remembered. "Nyaasu! Musashi, we have to find Nyaasu before they _kill_ him!"

But Musashi was not at all in the mood to move much less get up and follow him.

With a heavy sigh, Kojiro stood up and turned to the door.

"I'm going to find Nyaasu," he said slowly. "Stay here."

The only answer he received was another woeful wail. Kojiro lowered his head for a moment and then turned to Arbok.

"Take care of her," he said.

Arbok was at his master's side in a moment, and the second he brushed up against her, Musashi latched onto his body with another scream.

Although, he hesitated, Kojiro did not look back as he left the room and went out into the hall, wondering how he was going to find Nyaasu now. Entering the hallway, however, the answer was immediately given to him.

A koemon, who upon seeing the complete change which the building was undergoing, decided it best to flee the scene as fast as he could. He was, after all, only a data, and he certainly did not like discovering that the pretty house had been nothing more than an oozing, virus den, even though he should have known, really.

That was beside the point.

"Koemon!" cried Kojiro.

The koemon leapt near clean to the ceiling with his monkey shriek.

"You!" cried the koemon as he landed on the floor.

"Please!" begged Kojiro, then he halted his whiney tone. No, he wouldn't get his answer that way. He lowered his head and knelt on the ground. "_Onegaii shimasu_," he said with as much dignified solemnity as he could muster despite the sudden thought at the back of his mind of how humiliating this would still be if the koemon did not know.

_That shouldn't matter_, he scolded himself. _This is about Nyaasu's life._

"Tell me," he said looking the koemon firmly in the eyes. "Where is Nyaasu?"

The koemon stared blankly in return, blinking oddly at the strange human before him.

"You can get out of here," said Kojiro, "but please just tell me where he is."

"In the basement."

Holding composure proved no longer possible.

"What do you mean, 'basement'?!" Kojiro snapped, throwing his hands above his head in exasperation. "This place is just sitting on rock!"

"No!" the koemon insisted. "It's over a big hole. Really! It's behind the closet-looking door at the entrance — at least it was closet looking …" The koemon shuddered, and with a strange "_Eeep_!" he darted away into the nearest room, throwing open the door and crashing through the window for all his worth.

Kojiro could only stare a moment after the Koemon had disappeared from view, and then swallowing hard he ran to the entrance.

Every beautiful or luxurious thing Kojiro had seen upon entering the building now had become a mockery of its former appearance, or sometimes just like nothing at all but a mound of dirt or something fouler. Everything was a foul, rotting yellow, an ominous black, or an unsanitary green, and Kojiro was glad for his boots as he ran across the disgusting floor. Fears of something horrid falling from the ceiling also kept his pace up, for though he tried not to look, he knew that there were wires precariously holding dead things and rotten wood among other items that he could not tell what they were, nor did he want to know. He was surprised Musashi was not deathly ill from living in here even if it had been only for a few days.

The cold, sheet metal doors which guarded the entrance soon met him, and they were stained with goo and something that looked like blood. It looked far too old to be Nyaasu's, but the thought of blood made Kojiro all the more frantic to find the cat.

A wooden slab with a crude handle lay just to the side of the door. That had to be what the koemon meant.

Without another thought, he threw the door aside, and saw the makeshift spiral staircase leading into the blood red glow below. He took a step forward but before he went far, he heard the sound of the chumlimon. Stifling a gasp, he darted back against the wall, careful not to press himself against it, for it happened to be far dirtier than the doors and covered with the most diseased-looking mold.

"… Picodevimon's orders!" Kojiro heard one chumlimon say to another. "I just got word, so just do as I say. We take this stupid thing, and he's gunna use him as leverage.

"Oh, sounds good," agreed the other.

"That cat's out of the bag, so to speak," said the first chumlimon.

"Duh, I got that!" snapped the other chumlimon. "What do you think I am, an idiot?"

As quietly as he could, Kojiro lifted a pokéball from his belt.

The footsteps neared the top, and the chumlimon were dragging something with them.

Nyaasu, Kojiro hoped, yet at the same time he didn't.

He gulped, but brushed the images of a tortured Nyaasu out of his mind. He had to save him first, and then worry about him.

They reached the top step.

_Okay_, Kojiro thought and braced himself for the next event.

"Victreebel!" he cried, throwing the ball as hard as he could.

Victreebel emerged with her usual maniacal screams.

The chumlimon gasped, and with wild screams of their own ran down into the basement as fast as they could.

Again Victreebel let out a scream, a scream of joy apparently as she latched onto Kojiro head.

"No, wait, wait, wait!" cried Kojiro, trying to shove the pokémon off of him, but he ended in having to return her instead.

"_Guh_ …" he groaned, wiping some spit from his face, but immediately he turned his attention to the stairs.

A limp ball of fur and singed skin lay on the top step.

"Nyaasu!" Kojiro hissed.

Scooping him up carefully, he did not even look at the external damage before he pressed an ear to his side to see if he still lived at all.

Kojiro breathed a sigh of relief.

Yes, he was okay.

Then he noticed Nyaasu's body. Burn marks, scars, oh … Nyaasu. Whatever they had done to him, they did it thoroughly. Maybe "okay" wasn't the right word to use, but Nyaasu was alive at least.

"Kojiro!"

Kojiro let out an "_Eeep_!" quite similar to the sound of the fleeing koemon as he swiveled around, and he nearly fainted with relief upon seeing that it was Musashi.

She was back in her uniform, her hair was back to normal except the few stray curls, and her face had been cleaned raw. So aside from lack of lipstick and eye shadow, she looked almost like she had before they came to the digital world.

"Let's get out of here," she whispered.

Kojiro nodded, a lump forming in his throat, and he struggled to keep the rising tears from surfacing in his eyes.

"Yeah," he said.

Then he smiled, just a little smile, but it seemed to encourage Musashi as she returned him with a little smile of her own.

"Not so fast!" echoed a voice from behind them.

Musashi and Kojiro froze. They knew full well the owner of that voice.

"Picodevimon!" they cried together as the spun around toward him.

At least they were able to cry it together. It had been some time since they had agreed upon anything.


	31. Fight or Flight

JMJ

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:

Fight or Flight

"You're not going anywhere, _humans_!" Picodevimon said.

The sound of buzzing wings echoed from the dark hole below the dismal house, if it could really be granted the honorable title of "house". It would not be long before the gokimon appeared, but Musashi and Kojiro stood bravely together, shoulder to shoulder.

"You're staying right here until we've prepared you for Vamdemon-sama!" laughed Picodevimon sinisterly.

"Never!" Musashi snarled.

She lifted up a pokéball, readying herself for a fight, but Kojiro was not about to take chances with their reputation in a battle of any kind, and there would be no cheating their way out of this one. They would be surrounded by gokimon, chumlimon, and possibly some koemon before long. Outnumbered, at the very least, ten to one, their only chance would be to run for it; so just before Musashi threw her ball, Kojiro threw one of his.

"Weezing! Smog attack!" Kojiro ordered.

Weezing obeyed, letting out a thick blanket of smog, which soon flooded the entire room. Without wasting a second, Kojiro snatched Musashi by the arm, and still holding Nyaasu with the other he slipped away.

Then having darted outside, Kojiro and Musashi stopped a few feet around the corner of the cottage.

At first, Kojiro had a mind to jump right down the waterfall, but the moment they had stopped, Musashi pulled him the other way.

"There's an opening on the other side of the cave," Musashi whispered.

Kojiro nodded, and after returning Weezing, he raced after Musashi deeper into the cave. As he ran, he worried that the gokimon would catch up with them, and it was highly plausible that they would. What would they do then? Could they make it to the other side of the cave without being caught? Oh, he hoped so, but then they usually were pretty good at "rocketing" away from the scene of the crime. It was that "usually" part that unnerved him. Usually was not always and, come to think of it, had it not been more often than not in more recent escapades in their own world that they seemed to be losing their stealth? After all, how many times in the Hoenn and Jhoto regions had they been chased down like rats and blown sky high by some angry trainer or other?

He started to feel ill again.

#

"We're almost there!" cried Tailmon.

"I know, I see it!" Agumon called back with a nod.

The glider may not have been in the condition that it had been previous to its being sabotaged, but the digimon had been able make it airworthy.

_This ends now_, Tailmon thought, her eyes narrowing in on the little cottage. Like icicles, those crystal blue orbs pierced their destination. Even if she had to fight to death, this war over those two human souls ended today. Neither the virus nor the vaccine digimon were at their full strength as they had been in the days of Taichi or the days of Daisuke, but a battle they would have, and those two humans, Musashi and Kojiro, would be out of virus claws forever.

The craft landed just out of sight of the cottage, and with feline grace, Tailmon leapt first out into the cave. Gomamon and Agumon were quick to follow, and Hawkmon, Aeromon, Neamon, Palmon, Piyomon, as well as some others all followed in pursuit. They had a backup of the former digimon slaves from the palace foundations and the moat ready as well.

"Halt!" screeched a voice.

Tailmon stopped, and the others followed her example as many green shapes leapt from behind the rocks and the cottage in all possible areas a monkey could climb. Each koemon held a massive slingshot the size of themselves and each had a stone ready to be launched.

Tailmon growled.

"Koemon!" cried Gomamon. "Why are you working for the viruses?"

"We were hired!" replied the koemon. "Nothing personal." "Just business." "And sling shots!"

One koemon hesitated. "But it didn't quite go as we thought."

"Where are the humans?" demanded Tailmon, daring a step forward.

"They ran away down the cave," retorted the koemon. "The gokimon are after them." "The chumlimon are following." "We stay here." We're guarding the base." "Yeah, and if you step one step closer, we'll shoot!" "Yeah!" "That's right!"

Gomamon smiled; Tailmon raised a skeptical brow, but allowed him beside her.

"Looks to me like you're being jypped," said Gomamon.

"What do you mean?" asked the koemon.

"Well, they just want you to stay behind and guard the little house here," said Gomamon with a shrug. "Seems kinda like they don't like you as much as the chumlimon and the gokimon."

"The Gokimon can fly," a koemon pointed out.

"And they're on a higher level than we are," added another.

Tailmon rolled her eyes, and let loose her claws. "Let's just get this over with," she hissed, but Gomamon held her back.

"Just wait," he whispered.

"If you come to our side, koemon," said Gomamon, "then you would be working for a far better cause than breaking humans that are already pretty broken to begin with. How petty is that?"

"Yeah!" agreed Piyomon. "There's no honor in that, is there?"

"We don't fight for honor," said a koemon. "We fight to use our sling shots!"

"But wouldn't it be more of a challenge to fight against, say, the gokimon?" tried Gomamon again.

The koemon had to think about this one.

"Well, maybe …" they said. "The house isn't that great of a place to live in anyway." "Yeah, especially since we found out it was all fake." "Besides that all we were doing anyway was cooking." "And cleaning." "And getting a beating from the Jade Empress without being allowed to fight back." "And I didn't like that thing with the Nyaasumon …" All the koemon shuddered.

"So will you help us?" asked Palmon brightly.

"Do we get to use our sling shots?" cried a koemon.

"Sure," said Tailmon. "Sling shot the house. Find us, Picodevimon."

The koemon laughed.

"What's so funny?" demanded Tailmon.

"We already know where Picodevimon is," chuckled a koemon.

"He's in the basement!" clarified another.

Tailmon and her companions looked at each other.

"Show us!" gasped Agumon.

One koemon, perhaps a leader of sorts, nodded to one of his companions, and this koemon leapt out from behind his rock. With a wide grin, he marched to the door of the cottage, with a wide, careless stride. An exaggeratingly gallant swoop of his arm had the front door opened and he motioned inside, his grin widening all the more.

Tailmon stood motionless.

"You go first," she said, then turning to Hawkmon, she whispered, "Take Piyomon and Aeromon to the other side of the cave to meet the humans." And to Palmon, "Take the glider and fly after them."

Palmon nodded.

"Agumon, Gomamon, and Neamon, come with me," she said. "Then rest of you, go with Palmon." She turned hesitantly to the koemon. "Will some of you go with?"

"Sure!" cried the koemon. "We can make a diversion!" "We love diversions!" "Oh, yes, we love diversions."

"We can't really trust them," Agumon whispered very softly, leaning hesitantly to Tailmon's ear. "They change sides too easily."

"I know," Tailmon agreed as she watched about a dozen koemon slip away over the top of the cave and the waterfall, "but I think they'll stay on our side long enough to help us right now."

Gomamon nodded.

Then Tailmon allowed the koemon at the door to lead them to Picodevimon.

The place was a mess inside. That an empress had been living here seemed hard to believe. Mold, blood stains, and rotting things everywhere held a stench almost unbearable. Tailmon felt sick just being in here, but she ignored it for now.

Just around the corner of the entrance the saw a wooden slab of a door, which the koemon soon opened and with a low bow, motioned a gloved hand down the spiral steps.

Gomamon looked at Tailmon, Tailmon returned his look and looked to Agumon who had previously exchanged glances with Neamon.

"After you," chirped the koemon.

Tailmon frowned.

"You go first," she hissed.

Stiffening with fright, the koemon let loose a single prompt nod as did as bidden.

#

"You let the humans escape, didn't you," said the dark shadow of Vamdemon from within the blackness of the cave.

The chill of his breath of death swept in a whirl around Picodevimon, and Picodevimon shuddered.

"The gokimon will stop them," Picodevimon said, recovering quickly enough from the coldness, but not altogether from the feeling of dread. "They won't get far, Vamdemon-sama!" He bowed several times in a most humble and panicky manner.

"If you fail," said the dark master. "You will share the same fate as Limomon."

"I … I know, Vamdemon-sama," squeaked Picodevimon, and he frowned in spite of himself. "Oh, we will stop them! I won't allow them to save the Digital World before you've even come to full power!"

There was an eerie silence then. Picodevimon held his breath; a terror struck him that he may have angered his master, but a slow sneer sinisterly and sickening pulled out across his deathly pale face so that his vampire teeth glistened beneath his thin lips in what very little light was to be found in the dank, miserable surroundings. And he laughed. A dead, hallow, unfeeling laugh that even made the stone cold Picodevimon queasy.

"I-i-i-if I may be so bold, Vamdemon-sama," ventured Picodevimon but not without an especially low bow. "What amuses you so?"

"We will have no fear of that," said the dark master.

Picodevimon cocked his head curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Those two pathetic humans were never meant to come," he said. "They are play things. Nothing compared to the children who came before them. They are not even from the same world."

"_Na — nanda_?" Picodevimon gasped.

"They have no digivices. They have no crests. They have no digimon. They are worthless."

Picodevimon's mouth dropped. For a moment he was at a complete loss for words. Not meant to come? Not here to save the Digital World? Then …

"Why are we wasting our time with them?" cried Picodevimon; then remembering his place, he gave a quick bow. "O, Vamdemon-sama …"

Vamdemon let out another blood curdling laugh.

"They are humans," he said. "What other reason is there? And they are broken and lost and as weak as human souls can be. In all the history of the Digital World there has been humans to stop us, as powerless and miniscule as they may seem, but if we can taint the image the Digital World has of their favorite living thing, we have more power than any attack could give us. These two humans could destroy the image of the entire human race."

It took a while for this all to sink in and even after Vamdemon disappeared into the blackness, Picodevimon still had to mull over these words in his mind. He still had to think it over them as he left this deep, dark hole. Pressing a button on the wall, he went into the torture chamber that was the rest of the so-called basement.

The boiling pots, the spiky whips, the knives, and poisons, and fires, this was Picodevimon's understanding. Not to mention the trickery that was involved to get others to this point. Oh, he loved trickery, and although the ideas of Vamdemon were not new, the thought of taking an unprotected human put the whole situation in a new light, and it was a very false, disgustingly pleasing light. If the humans had not come to defend this world, if they were blackened souls already, then in a way they were already unwittingly on the virus' side.

Maybe … but then he remembered what had happened with Kojiro. After his experience in Vamdemon's tower, he showed a strange resistance that would not have been expected of someone of his sort. Was it possible for his dark master to be wrong about them?

"Hmm …" growled Picodevimon, but he did not have long to ponder about him, as a sudden blackness enshrouded him.

"Ack!" he cried.

His attempt to fly away proved completely in vane as many digimon pressed the sack into which he had been thrown down hard onto the ground so that he could not escape.

#

She could not be more thankful that she had seen this side tunnel when the cottage had been pulled behind the waterfall. The gokimon just barely missed them now as Musashi and Kojiro ducked out of sight. The light of the opening gleamed like a jewel for the pair, and they leapt out to safety, even if the drop was a bit farther than they had anticipated.

"Wah!" they gasped, and they came tumbling through the ferns, bushes and other greenery until they came to a stop in a dusty ditch.

Violently gasping for breath, Musashi and Kojiro sank as low as possible in the thick jungle brush. They clung for dear life to each other with the still unconscious Nyaasu held snugly between them.

Then they held their breaths at the sound of beating wings.

One or two gokimon had decided to check out this side opening, but they did not see any point once having scanned the lazy, afternoon jungle out here. The cockroach creatures hovered and exchanged glances then with a pair of shrugs they darted back into the cave.

Kojiro and Musashi heaved a sigh of relief and fell into each other exhausted.

* * *

_Three chapters to go ^-^_


	32. Urban Jungle

JMJ

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO:

Urban Jungle

"What do we do with him?" Agumon asked.

Even as he spoke their captive nearly escaped out from under the potato sack they had thrown over the top of him. With a cry of defiance Gomamon, Agumon, Tailmon, and Neamon dog piled the spazzy, squealing lump.

"We could lock him up in here," Neamon suggested, pointing to a cage not far from where they were where it rested against what looked like a mutated, old dentist's chair.

"No," said Tailmon, struggling again to keep the growling creature from ripping out of his prison. "We should take him out of here."

"Where?" Gomamon demanded, shaking his head out of the way of Agumon's foot, which had nearly found its way up under his nose.

SLASH!

"Ah!" cried the digimon as Picodevimon zipped out of the hole he finally created, and he bolted immediately for the stairs.

Unfortunately for him, Tailmon proved faster as she leapt for the stairs and slammed the door shut. She then stood quite dangerously, blocking the escape of the virus digimon with arms outstretched against the door.

"Yipe!" Picodevimon cried, and flew back down the stairs.

"Baby flame!" Agumon exclaimed, and the flame, though small, whooshed across the chamber stopping Picodevimon in mid flight and causing him to fall to the floor.

"You're wasting your time!" Picodevimon gasped through groans and squawks of pain.

The three digimon still down stairs, crowded around the virus, and Tailmon leapt from the stairs. With feline finesse she landed in front of Picodevimon's face.

With eyes narrowing Picodevimon let out a ghastly hiss.

"The gokimon will find the humans before you'll find them, and you're way outnumbered!" Picodevimon sniggered.

Gomamon could not help but laugh. "We're not outnumbered!"

"Yeah!" Agumon and Neamon agreed.

"We have backup!" Agumon added.

"Well, even if you do find them, the humans are already lost," Picodevimon snapped in his defense.

Rolling her eyes to the ceiling a moment, Tailmon let out a most irate groan. "What do you mean?"

Satisfied that he had gotten everyone's attention, Picodevimon, with another snigger, jumped back onto his feet and said quite pleasantly, "The humans are already under the influence of darkness. They have been since they entered the Digital World." Here he decided to unleash an obnoxious snort to which Tailmon only closed her eyes in disgust. "They're thieves, scum, and murderers. The girl tried to kill Nyaasu, and was getting pretty near on deciding a similar fate for the other human. They're cowards. The boy stood stupidly and watched Nyaasu be taken away! They ate like gluttons the slime of the cottage provided—"

"That's another thing!" Tailmon interrupted, choosing to completely ignore everything else said previous to this statement for the moment. "How did you get a flectamon's* cottage? They certainly aren't working for you, and you couldn't have defeated them all on your own, especially with their skills of mind play."

"Pfft, I outwitted them, Tailmon," scoffed Picodevimon. "They may be able to mess with people's heads, but they're not very smart when it comes to anything outside their fantasy worlds they create for themselves. They see what they believe they'll see. That's how their cottages work. I'm clever. That's why I'm top under the employ of Vamdemon. That's why he can count on me to get the job done and not any other digimon when it comes to foul play and trickery. And as for the humans … face it! You lost. You know it's true, Tailmon. They've ruined the Digital World themselves not saved it. They're just like me only less clever and more human."

Oh, she had tried to ignore him, Tailmon truly tried. They did not have time for arguing, but the more that twit talked the tighter she felt and the more anger boiled a storm inside her. That's what he wanted, she knew. Picodevimon wanted to make her loose her focus, to become blind enough from her own emotions for him to play the trickster and escape. That was what he did. His whole life consisted only of the deceiving and fouling of honest hearts. But she couldn't help it. Someone needed to shut him up. She lifted a paw and …

"Oh!" cried Neamon. "You make me _so-o-o-o_ mad!"

Tailmon jumped in surprise.

Leaping up to his feet, Neamon lifted up a foot as if to kick the virus, but instead with whip of his neck, he slammed his head into the utterly surprised Picodevimon as if he were a ball and his head the end of a golf club. With wind knocked out of him, Picodevimon hardly made a squeak as he collided with the wall and fell to the ground unconscious.

Silence …

"Well, uh …" Gomamon began after a time. "That works I guess. So now what, we tie him up?"

Agumon nodded. "Yeah, come on."

#

Only the scuffling of wearily trudging feet and the calls of birds and insects could be heard along the jungle path. Every other sound that did on occasion arise made Kojiro as nervous as a sentret, and he would stiffen all ears while Musashi watched him carefully as if trying to decide whether to be annoyed with his paranoia or to join him in his understandable alertness. Either way, Kojiro tried not to look at her, and when he did Musashi would just turn away.

They had not spoken to each other since yesterday. Often Kojiro felt he wanted to say something to her. He would open his mouth and take a deep breath, but nothing ever came out, and on they would walk. On and on, aimlessly. Sometimes they even became stuck in circles.

Did they even have a destination in mind?

No, and they did not particularly care either.

Just away. Away from everything.

Even though they did not speak, Kojiro's heart could not have gone out to Musashi more. After everything that had happened, at least they were together again. Eventually the silence would wear off. He knew it would. Silence was better than arguing and fighting after all, and Musashi looked like she needed space now more than anything else.

Kojiro looked down at Nyaasu still unconscious in his arms. He had hardly stirred since he had been found, and although he was still alive (once he even murmured in his sleep), Kojiro feared it might not last. When he was not thinking about Musashi, this fear took hold of his whole mind. There was no pokémon center. No Joy-san. There was not even a first aid kit, and Kojiro had no idea how to get back to the tanemon village now, for they had wandered too deeply into the jungle so that neither he nor Musashi could hope to know where they were. And Nyaasu really did look bad even if he had been conscious. The burns, the scars, the crack in his koban, the huge black eye, the missing fur, and the crick in his tail, oh, he looked awful. Kojiro had washed him as best he could up river from the waterfall. The plants in the digital world were all too foreign for him to know which would be of use in healing from the little he knew about herbs and roots from Grampy and Granny*. He had nothing with which to bandage Nyaasu up aside from his own clothes, but these had been so soiled and filled with sweat that Kojiro felt it would be better to simply leave Nyaasu uncovered, especially since most of his wounds had little to do with escaped blood.

For a moment Kojiro closed his eyes, and letting out a heavy sigh, he straightened his posture. It seemed a perpetual battle, for as his mind wandered his shoulders and back would slouch, and when he awoke he would lift himself out of it again. This time, he had hardly done so when he heard a strange scuffling and a thud behind him.

Stiffening fearfully and clutching Nyaasu tightly, Kojiro swiveled around.

Nothing had leapt out to get them. Musashi had simply dropped to the ground on her knees, fists clenched to her sides and her eyes squeezed shut.

"Musashi?" Kojiro ventured to ask.

He dared a step closer, fearing she may lash out, but to be able to comfort her felt worth the risk. As Musashi did not respond, Kojiro continued forward and stopped only a foot in front of her. He made to squat beside her, but in a sudden violent throw of her head, Musashi's face, swollen with emotion, burst into faucets of tears as a loud wail escaped her.

Kojiro jolted back a little, but he soon squatted down as he had intended. Resting Nyaasu as gently as he could on a knee and holding him upon with one hand, he then took his other hand and gently touched Musashi's arm.

"Musashi?" Kojiro squeaked. "_Daijoubu ka_?"

Oh, stupid question. He couldn't help it. He winced, but Musashi did not even seem to hear him at first.

"_Gomen,_ Musashi," he said lowering his head.

"For what?!" Musashi cracked through her sobs, and letting out one last wail, she threw out her arms and wrapped them around Kojiro's chest as hard as she could.

Despite himself, Kojiro felt on the verge of tears also as he lifted his free arm and allowed his friend to press her face into the opposite shoulder. He then hugged her back with all his own might with that single arm, and held Nyaasu tighter with the other.

"Oh, Kojiro!" she exclaimed. "It's not fair! It's just not fair!"

He was just about to say something comforting; he had almost found the right words to say, but just as they were about to leave his tongue, Musashi pulled away. All crying stopped, save for the choking sobs. Shaking with her breaths, she closed her eyes and allowed her arms to drop as she tried to calm herself down.

More in an attempt to stop himself from burst into tears than anything else, Kojiro cleared his throat. He could feel the tears rising up in the back of his eyes and up his throbbing throat.

"Uh, you … Musashi … Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked.

"I don't know," Musashi grumbled.

"You can if you want to," said Kojiro. "You can say anything you want, and I'll … I'll listen. You know I'll listen to you, Musashi."

Eyes widened then in Musashi's rising head, and she stared strangely at Kojiro a moment with the most intense leer so that at first Kojiro feared he had merely roused her temper. It proved short lived, however. Musashi's eyes softened and with a nod that choked up one last sob, she answered waveringly, "I know. It's just …" Her teeth clamped together, and she looked away. "I'm sorry, Kojiro."

Kojiro bit his lip and turned sharply away.

"You forgive me right?" asked Musashi strangely timidly.

Kojiro turned just as sharply back again. "I—"

"Right?" she demanded before he could get any further.

"I—" Kojiro started again

"Right, Kojiro!?"

"Musashi!" Kojiro snapped.

A pout formed on Musashi's face, but she stopped.

"Of course I forgive you," Kojiro answered.

But by the look on Musashi's face, Kojiro knew her mind had already left the subject. Her eyes welled up with a faraway glaze, and she murmured, "It was so horrible."

"I know …" said Kojiro.

"Did you see it too?" she demanded. "Did you look at the …"

"Yes, I looked at mirror, but it's okay now Musashi, really, it's okay. It's over now. We threw up what we ate last night, so even that's not a problem anymore, right? We can start over."

Musashi growled. "This doesn't have anything to do with food, Kojiro. This is serious!"

"I know, but …"

"I looked …!" Musashi shook her head and shuddered.

Kojiro had almost forgotten about his own reflection. So busy had he been on showing Musashi what the cottage really looked like, that he did not have time for what he himself looked like, but now thinking on it again, he had to admit that it had been a disturbingly sickly image. It caused more than a shudder to recall that creature that had stared back at him in the mirror.

"Musashi," said Kojiro, "believe me, you look fine. You look like you always do. Well," and here he hesitated, picking a pebble up off the ground and fiddling with it uneasily. "I mean, not quite as good as you usually do, but that's not your fault. We've been going through all this crap, and it's not like we've had time to look our—"

"But Kojiro," said Musashi.

Kojiro stopped with mouth in mid motion, completely frozen. The look on Musashi's face had shaken him to the core, and he had to listen, and it was not because of a demanding rage. A fear had swept over Musashi's face that would have made anyone shiver.

"Am I …" Musashi started and she digressed into an uneasy gulp. "I mean …" she shook her head. "Is this … are we dead?" she squeaked.

"_Nani_!" Kojiro cried. "What are you talking about!?"

"This whole place doesn't make sense," Musashi said. "It's insane, and everything is like a dream that lasts forever! The mirror showed what was really there, and …I … I looked DEAD!"

"In the mirror!?" Kojiro cried.

Musashi buried her face in her hands.

"Musashi!" screamed Kojiro frantically.

What could be said to a statement like that?

He looked down at Nyaasu, and then back at Musashi, and Kojiro could not help but feel exceedingly lost. Nyaasu was the one who had always made up the plans, and he was unable to speak much less scheme. Musashi was the one who had the stubborn, perpetual motivation and she was afraid that she had already died. That just left him, the one who had always submissively followed along and added a little awkward flair to the gang. He was now left to take care of them both, and even he had not fully recovered from what had happened to him.

With a determined frown against his own self pity, he gathered up courage enough to put a hand on Musashi's arm once again.

"Musashi," he said, his voice level and as strong as he could muster. "We're not dead. Any of us. Whatever you saw, it didn't mean you're dead."

Her hands fell away from her face and Musashi lifted her eyes into Kojiro's, and Kojiro tried to smile encouragingly; though, he was certain he had failed miserably.

"We'll make it back," said Kojiro.

Musashi nodded and tried to smile as well, but then her eyes fell on Nyaasu, and she turned abruptly away again.

"I wanna go home now," she grumbled.

"Me too," said Kojiro, and holding out his hand, he stood up and helped Musashi up beside him.

"I don't even care about what happens when we get back," Musashi said. "I just want to go home. I even miss the stupid kid and stupid old Pikachu."

"Oh, yeah, them," Kojiro muttered.

Musashi raised a skeptical brow.

"_Nani_?" she wanted to know.

Kojiro shook his head. "Nothing."

Her skeptical look only grew, but they decided to leave off the heavy past and the unnerving future for now as they continued on through the jungle.

#

A glint shone beckoningly through the trees. A light shimmering in the dark. It was a star in twilight, a candle in the window. It was a magical sight for the weary eyes of the pair of travelers after the long march through the jungle. Not even an easy lunch could have lifted spirits higher.

Musashi looked at Kojiro and Kojiro looked at Musashi, and together they darted toward this glimmer with all eager curiosity.

_Maybe it's the way out_! Musashi thought.

Yes, she got her hopes up; yes, she knew it was dangerous, but Kojiro got his hopes up too. His wide grin was more than enough to tell her that he thought the exact same thing as she. Their troubles could be over!

She never before nor afterwards longed so much for the sight of a city street crowded with people, ordinary, happy, busy human beings so wonderfully common in her own world. She could smell the restaurants and street stands, see the naïve, eager pokémon trainers with their equally as naïve, eager pokémon; she could feel the smooth siding of real human buildings, and hear the sea of voices, real human voices, talking about their daily lives, completely oblivious to the alternate world of extreme hatred and madness, and all the better for them. She found herself feeling a bit jealous of them, actually, but she did not have long to go bitter as she stopped suddenly at the shocking disappointment in realizing that they had followed only the glare of a window.

"A phone booth," Kojiro pointed out.

"Humph!" Musashi growled, and turning round, she fell back against the phone booth and crossed her arms, a heavy sulk deeply melting into her face. "I hate this place."

Kojiro hesitated.

"Well, maybe this is the way out," he said. "I mean, what if we already _are_ out? It's possible, isn't it?"

Musashi rolled her eyes. "Why would there be a phone booth in the middle of the jungle?"

"Maybe it isn't the middle of the jungle," said Kojiro. "Maybe there's a town nearby or a research facility or a team base or … uh, something like that. And anyway it wouldn't be the first time even if it was, you know?"

"A team base," Musashi repeated, ignoring Kojiro's scowl.

Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, she eyed the telephone through the glass, and a light bulb clicked on above her head.

Maybe they could call somebody!

With a blissfully optimistic leap, she slid into the phone booth and picked up the phone.

Kojiro squinted. "Musashi?" he said, readjusting Nyaasu in his arms a little. "What are you doing?"

"Calling the Boss," replied Musashi lightly.

"The Boss?" Kojiro demanded. "But … why? What's he going to do? He won't help us out even if he can, and if he comes here, just think what would happen to him?"

Fingers drew back sharply from the buttons as Musashi stiffened at this thought.

The Boss being attacked by digimon viruses?

The idea was barely comprehensible. But she could conjure up a clear enough image of the Boss taking over the Digital World all on his own. Then Team Rocket would claim possession over it. Or maybe he wouldn't share the knowledge of it with his team at all. After all, who would want to risk other agents being tricked by viruses or any digimon for that matter against him? Just think about what would happen if that smug, bimbo *Yamato and her partner Kosanji —ahem! whatever his name is — Kosaburo were caught in the clutches of the likes of Picodevimon or even the fabled Vamdemon who had captured Kojiro.

Her eye twitched slightly, and then she shook the image right out of her head.

It wouldn't be so bad, the Boss taking over the Digital World if they warned him what happens when you get caught by viruses. Maybe he was too smart to get tricked anyway, and he certainly would be careful about the effect everything would have on his agents.

She dialed the number.

"What if it doesn't work?" Kojiro asked. "How could the phone work outside the Digital World?"

The only response she graced him with was a finger held to her lip as actual rings on the other end proved him wrong even as he spoke his concerns, which were really excuses for not calling the Boss. She knew. She wasn't stupid. Kojiro had, after all, thrown down his uniformed "R" shirt.

However, as the phone began to ring, Musashi felt a knot tie itself in the pit of her stomach, and the longer she waited on the line, the bigger it grew. Biting her lip and clutching the cord tightly, she readied herself at every ring for a voice on the other end, and if anybody did pick up, she knew it would be the Boss. This was his extra special private number, after all, and he didn't use secretaries on this line. It had cost an arm and a leg to get a hold of it too, and Musashi and Kojiro had been very proud of their gain ages ago it seemed now. She was beginning to think now, however, that this was a bad idea.

The image of herself in the mirror flashed before her eyes, and she felt her knees buckle, and the knot in her stomach turned to a whirlpool of nausea. Musashi knew that the image she had seen was how dead she had made inside, and Kojiro probably had not been as roused with as much fear, because he had not been the one to go mad with power as the ruler of the Digital World under the puppet strings of the viruses. But if the mirror was anything more than another way to drive humans crazy, then didn't that mean that working for Team Rocket would still have her looking…

The phone clicked as someone picked up.

All nausea dematerialized in an instant, and was replaced by chilled alarm.

"Who is it?" demanded a threatening voice on the other end.

The Boss! She actually reached him! Maybe they had made it out of the Digital World after all!

She turned to Kojiro and grinned.

"Is he there?" Kojiro whispered, shifting his weight rigidly, but Musashi simply put full attention on the phone again.

"Well?" the voice in the phone came again.

Shaking with anticipation, Musashi gripped the phone as tightly as she could, and mustered a bubbly, "Boss! Hi! _Mushi, mushi_! It's us, your favorite loyal field agents Musashi and Kojiro!"

There was a short pause then; for a moment Musashi feared he was hanging up, but the voice reappeared soon enough as maliciously patient as it was darkly irate.

"What's the meaning of your call?" asked the Boss. It was his patience that was actually the scariest part of him. It always had been. "Where are you?"

"Uh …" Musashi looked around, and nearly rammed her face into Kojiro's, for he had somehow ended up right beside her without her knowing.

They cried out, but Musashi soon had the phone again, held out in a manner so that both she and her partner could hear.

"In a strange place," said Musashi vaguely.

"And where is that?" demanded the Boss.

Musashi looked at Kojiro, and Kojiro shrugged.

_Not helping!_

"We don't know," the pair said in unison.

"But there's lots of strange creatures here!" added Musashi brightly.

"Musashi!" Kojiro hissed, and in a flash tried to snatch the phone away.

He would have snagged it too, if he had not been holding Nyaasu at the same time, and Musashi had not shoved them both aside.

"Is that so?" Disinterest could be detected now. "Do you have any of them in your possession?"

"Well …" Musashi started.

"No," squeaked Kojiro quickly.

Musashi pushed him outside the phone booth.

"Have you accomplished anything?"

"Er …" Musashi murmured.

"Then don't call this line again unless you have something of real importance to report, is that understood?"

"_Wakarimashita_, Boss!" Musashi exclaimed, even going so far as to give a wide salute in near wabafet fashion. "We'll keep—"

_Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm_…

The Boss had apparently hung up.

With a heavy sigh either of disappointment or relief, it proved difficult to say which (it may have been a bit of both), Musashi lifted the phone back into place, and slunk out of the phone booth where Kojiro was waiting impatiently.

"Does this mean we're out?" he asked.

"I have no idea," Musashi groaned, "but I'm going to find out." She turned resolutely down the path that happened to go behind the phone booth. "Come on, Kojiro. This way!"

With a tug on Kojiro's sleeve, Musashi led him away from the scene, and the jungle did seem to be letting up a little. That did not necessarily mean that they were back in their world, but at least they could see a little more where they were going. They did not go far, though, before Musashi was certain that they were not in their world at all, and although she had a feeling they had not left the Digital World all along, she could not help but feel the weight of the disappointment fall heavily upon her at the sight of the random, brightly blinking slot machine set on the side of the path.

"Meh …" Musashi muttered.

"We haven't left," Kojiro sighed.

Musashi slapped her forehead. The theater-sized flat screen television set leaning against the wall of a small cliff was had gotten his attention. It played _The__ Borrower Arrietty _on mute, but the images flashed by as clearly as the path in front of them.

* * *

NOTES:

_Flectamon are another of my created digimon. They are rather playful in nature in are kind of gnome-like in appearance, though I haven't thought much about their appearance, I'll be honest. With loose digital pixels and lost digital memory they create places of illusion for fun to entertain themselves, though they also use it in defense. The way their illusions work however is that one sees what one believes they will see with background "subliminal messaging to help the main focus), thus why Kojiro and Nyaasu saw a far sharper and colder palace than Musashi who envisioned it more Disney Princess. Her vision of the place was based on the first impression of the cottage as she saw it first and Nyaasu and Kojiro's vision of the place was based off the fear for what had become of Musashi. Of course under the control of Picodevimon the cottage was made altogether a disgusting place rather than just a worn out place on purpose to mock the humans, but even in general, flectomon like to make the most disgusting places look beautiful. The more disgusting the more amusement they get from their ability to brighten it up. The flectomon are data digimon on an adult level, but are not a vastly physically large or strong digimon._

_Kosaburo and Yamato are Butch and Cassidy. In Japanese they only get Kosaburo's name wrong with one name: "Kosanji", which I believe is a reference to the Japanese actor Kosanji Yanagiya, but I'm not certain. If someone knows more, please tell me._

_Grampy and Granny are Pop-pop and Nanny. In Japanese they're family servants that watch over one of Kojiro's family summer homes. From what I understand in English they really are his grandparents, though I've never seen the episode with them in it in either Japanese or English. I've only read synopsis. Since this is based more off the Japanese, they're his servants, not that it really matters in this fic._


	33. Free Lunch

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE:

Free Lunch

"Water!" they cried.

Musashi and Kojiro practiced very hard to perform actions in unison or at least to match as a pair of Team Rocket field agents. It would hardly be listed as a requirement to be a field agent; Giovanni could care less if partners matched, but the pride of the field agents was something not even Giovanni cared to mess with. It happened to be a sort of faux pas amongst the inner subculture of the field agents if a pair did not match, and of course, being the flare-obsessed duo that they were, Musashi and Kojiro took every measure necessary to have the working-in-unison part down to a perfect "T" (or "R" perhaps may be more appropriate). In the old days before Pikachu, they were looked highly upon for their ability to work so flawlessly together.

A side effect of this turned out to be that even when Musashi and Kojiro did not happen to be taking care of Team Rocket business, they still did many things in unison or simply to match up like performers in a circus, maybe even slightly like twins, one anticipating the other's movements constantly and usually subconsciously.

In this case however, they probably would have performed the same action anyway, and the fact that they knelt down at the water's edge in the exact same manner was probably a coincidence as was the way they both scooped up water at the exact same time, bringing it to their mouths greedily. Well, perhaps this was not truly a coincidence more than merely an effect another common practice for Musashi and Kojiro and Nyaasu if he had been conscious (he had been placed carefully under the foot of a tree instead): the pitiless fight over that had the rowdiness of spoiled siblings and a ravenousness of wolves over almost every scrap and sip that came their way.

Not that they were fighting now. Far from it, in fact. Of course, as they were drinking from a river there would have been no need to actually fight each other anyway, but Musashi and Kojiro were, although possessed throats like sandpaper at this point for having not being able to drink since the day before, were still rather sober in nature at the moment, and were not in a mood for childishness much less dog-eat-dog.

On Musashi's part, she felt more adult now since the day she became a full member of Team Rocket. She was not sure what she had felt like after that until now. Even that glorious day she had achieved field agent status, in a way felt childish, looking back upon it, and thinking upon her very early Rocketing days, she felt she would have done things quite differently, but thoughts of this kind given the situation, were not all too unusual, she supposed.

What was still unusual was Kojiro.

She watched him now take Nyaasu to the river. With the utmost care, he bathed Nyaasu's wounds, and forced his semi-conscious mouth to drink. Now, Musashi knew that Kojiro had been more than capable of such care before the Digital World, but there was something still so different about him.

If anyone had matured here, she found herself thinking, it had probably been him.

But the moment she caught the thought, she brushed it aside with a huff and a rough sweep of her head in the opposite direction.

They still ruined him, those viruses! She still believed that, but once they left the Digital World, surely he would get better. Quickly stifling a sob, she looked again upon her partner and friend now stroking Nyaasu gently.

_Even if I have to help him myself, he'll get better_, she thought.

His hair was a filthy oily mess as was her own. His face was a bit swollen in places and certainly everywhere else on his body. The lower half of his face had become quite scratchy with the scraggly purple-blue hairs for lack of being able to shave, but it really was not much of a beard yet. Kojiro was still too boyish for that. His dark rimmed eyes did not look quite as swollen as when they first rescued him, and Musashi found herself pondering very hard what the evil digimon had done to him in their tower. What dark torture had they put him through, that even now he would not speak of …?

"Ow!" Kojiro squeaked.

Musashi jumped out of her thoughts.

"What?" Musashi asked.

"Nyaasu's not well," Kojiro said absently.

"No," Musashi had to agree, even though it was more than obvious, and she did not like looking at Nyaasu.

And no, it wasn't it guilt! It was … Okay, it was guilt, but she still could not allow the thought that Nyaasu would not make it to cross through her mind. Somehow, not looking at him, made it easier to handle.

"He's catching something, I think," said Kojiro. "He's burning up."

Musashi closed her eyes and threw her head in the opposite direction.

She could hear Kojiro shifting uneasily behind her, but she would not turn back.

"What do we do?" he asked.

A flare of anger rose up inside, but aside from a sour look rising on her face and a bit of steam escaping with her next phrase, Musashi managed to hold it down.

"I. Don't. Know," she said.

Silence.

"Oh, Nyaasu …" Kojiro breathed wearily.

Finally Musashi turned, and she looked down at the pitiful wreck of flesh and fur that had been their unsinkable, ever-ready Nyaasu. Then she slowly raised her eyes to Kojiro's face.

"_Gomen_," she barely whispered.

Kojiro's eyes widened upon her, but he said nothing in his rather befuddled surprise, very typical of him, actually. Maybe it was the strangeness of the emotions that were flooding in around her, but his expression almost made Musashi laugh. Then swallowing hard, Kojiro turned back down to Nyaasu.

A strange sound rustled in the trees then, and as Kojiro and Musashi turned their heads, a flock of birds flew off in great haste, but those were no mere birds. Everything here could talk and think rather clearly, and any digimon could be on one political side of this world or the other. They could only hope those creatures were not out to betray them to Vamdemon and his horde.

Kojiro set Nyaasu again gently on the ground, and both he and Musashi stood up, watching with hands shielding their eyes as the birds flew in the direction of the sunlight.

"What got them so riled up?" Musashi demanded.

Kojiro shook his head. "I don't know," he admitted, rather sluggishly, Musashi thought. Then with another shake of his head, he said, "I miss pokémon."

Eyes lowered to the ground, and Musashi found herself thinking the same thing, but lifting her head up once more, she said simply, "Don't."

"What?"

"Don't tell me what you miss," Musashi growled. "I'm tired of it. I don't want to miss anymore. I want our world firmly under our feet or not to speak of it at all!"

"Okay, okay," Kojiro said, holding up his hands in his defense; then his eyes went wide.

Musashi squinted hard at him, studying him carefully.

"_Dou shita no_?" she asked and spun around, and immediately she noticed that the third member of their group had disappeared from beneath his tree.

"Where's Nyaasu!?" she cried.

The shuffling in the bushes quickly told them, but Nyaasu had not been the one to make the sound. Something pulled him out of sight in the reeds.

"NO!" Musashi cried.

"STOP!" Kojiro screamed.

And with all thought save the rescuing of Nyaasu blurred by panic, Musashi and Kojiro lunged after the shaking brush.

"That's our Nyaasu!" Musashi snarled.

"Give him back!" Kojiro growled.

Twigs and branches snapped all around them. They tripped over rocks and logs but were always up again. They ignored every vine and thorn. They had been burned, electrocuted, and even whipped with vines far worse than these! After all they had been through, after everything that had happened, neither Musashi nor Kojiro was about to allow anyone to tear their trio apart. Not now, not ever!

They leapt through the greenery into a clearing, but Musashi suddenly found it odd that they did not land when they should have. Then she looked down.

"WAH!"

_SPLASH!_

Right in a pond, but that hardly stopped the pair as they leapt to their feet once again, and now the creature that had taken Nyaasu away was cornered between a rock and a hard-eyed pair of angry humans.

"Give us back Nyaasu!" Kojiro snarled, thrusting a dangerous finger into the queer, bumbling digimon's face.

"Right now!" added Musashi, lifting a pokéball from her belt. "We're not afraid to fight for our friend!"

The digimon put Nyaasu neatly on the ground.

"_Gomen kudasai_," she said with a low bow before the pair. "I didn't know he was your friend. Please don't attack me. I thought he was your prisoner."

"Prisoner?!" Musashi barked.

"There've been so many recently, and you're clothes do look pretty much sinister and organized, somehow," said the digimon.

"Oh, _now_ someone notices," Musashi grumbled, "when we're in complete rags."

The digimon did not seem to notice as she went on, "I thought you were with viruses. They're terribly angry now that the Jade Empress has fled."

Musashi stiffened and felt her face turn red, and Kojiro turned to look at her with an uneasily shuffling of his feet.

"Did you escape?" asked the digimon.

"Yes," said Musashi a little too defensively. "We did. So what?"

But the digimon's attention had been turned elsewhere. She lowered her head in deep sympathy to Nyaasu, and lifting him up again ever so gently she looked up at the pair again.

"We have to get him someplace to recover," she said. "He may not out here."

Musashi had had her fill of digimon and their stupid villages. If they had to hear one more time about how special they were, she would be liable to punch someone in the nose. To see those primitive dwellings, pretty much too small for humans just filled her with disgust, they had lost any charm they might have had the first time she had seen them. In fact this whole world, if it had any to begin with lost all charm on her period.

But there was no question about whether or not she and Kojiro would follow. They had no choice. Not with Nyaasu in the condition he was in. He could die without proper treatment. They readily accepted.

"Are you sure you can help him?" asked Kojiro.

"Oh, sure, I can," said the digimon, smiling as she began leading them away in her strange waddle-walk; from the back she looked like a little fairy tale housewife. The onion-like object on her head looked like hair, and the violet dress fit her functionally and practically. "Although it's rare to get them as bad as this, I can assure you I've seen it all. I take care of whole armies of little worker bees."

Her light titter could be likened to that of a mother's thinking fondly on her little ones. Looking up to the wide-eyed partners now walking with her on either side, she said, "And I wouldn't suppose either of you are very hungry?"

There was a short pause before either spoke; though, they looked at each other warily.

"A little …" said Musashi vaguely as her stomach at the mention of food took it as a cue to growl hungrily.

"Oh, don't worry, everything's on the house for folk escaped from the Jade Empress," said the digimon. "After all, what do we honestly need money for, anyway? Everything we need we can get easily enough, and they could pay you to let them serve you, they love their work so much, the little darlings!"

"'On the house?'" repeated Musashi.

"'They?'" wondered Kojiro.

They paused in step and again looked at each other, but they could not stop long for the digimon kept right on walking, blissfully confident that the pair would keep following her. They would only have to see for themselves, but that did not mean that Musashi would not be at the ready. A careful hand, she kept always prepared for a fast action with a pokéball.

Then they saw it.

"It's a …" Kojiro started.

Big glass doors, attractive lantern décor, broad windows, tables gleaming inside all set with menus and condiment holders in dinar fashion, homey lighting, the scent of spice and grease strong in the air.

"Restaurant," finished Musashi.

"A Burgamon Restaurant," said the digimon with a nod. "Oh!" and here she turned and grinned to both in turn. "Everyone calls me Mama Burgamon. We'll take your poor little friend in through the back door. There's stairs that leads up to the burgamon dormitories. We'll have him patched up in no time."

"And they serve hamburgers, I'm guessing?" asked Kojiro.

Mama Burgamon laughed. "Of course, sweetheart! But we have plenty to drink and have lots of herbs and soups and teas for recovering travelers too."

_Sweetheart, huh?_ Musashi thought sourly.

Musashi turned to Kojiro with a raised brow, but Kojiro with a shrug, simply began to follow the digimon to the back of the restaurant. After a moment, Musashi chased after, but not without a loud groan as her stomach growled once more.

#

The moon had been at one time compared to a cookie. Nyaasu did not know where he had heard this comparison, but he wondered if it would taste any good. Would it be a cheesy cookie? Or perhaps just creamy vanilla. Oh, yes, now he remembered where he had heard the comparison. Mondo. Mondo had said many odd things of that sort, but Nyaasu knew that he must have heard it somewhere else before he told him.

Wherever Mondo had heard the story first, the cookie in the sky being eaten little by little and then being slowly replaced with a new one, Nyaasu could hear him saying it now in his weird little way, sitting candidly on a hilltop beside him and looking out at the star sprayed sky ruled by a bright, full moon …

_The Team Rocket uniform looked even more out of place than ever on nights like tonight. He probably would have looked better in a broad straw hat and overalls. Well, if not better, at least more fitting, but believe it or not, Mondo had been born into Team Rocket. His father had been a rather prominent field agent and his mother a mad scientist's daughter; that was why he had even been allowed to be an agent at all. Where Mondo had inherited his honest simplicity Nyaasu would never know, but even back then Nyaasu would think that Mondo would have been better cultivating the field rather than scouring it for rare and unusual pokémon, not that he did much of that. He just helped out other more experienced agents where he was needed. He had to learn the trade before he could do it himself._

"_But one day," he would often say, holding up a thoughtful finger and gazing above him like a child explaining what he wanted to his birthday next year. "I'll make my parents proud. I'll be the best agent ever!"_

_Nyaasu would only smile on these occasions and pat the young human in his blissful callowness. "Sure you will, Mondo boy, sure you will, nya." Well, hey, why discourage him?_

_But on nights like tonight he was not an agent at all, and through all his optimism and determination, Nyaasu could see in those big brown eyes a longing that at the time, he did not fully understand. He understood longing, sure, but what those eyes gazed for up at the moon, Nyaasu could not guess. He never shared it with Nyaasu; that was all Nyaasu knew._

"_Nya?" Nyaasu asked, cocking his head._

_Mondo waved a hand aside carelessly and smiled. "I was just thinking that I wouldn't mind a song."_

_Nyaasu nodded quickly, and Mondo, with eyes as round and innocent as a puppy dog's, would reach into his bag of things for a fiddle or a small guitar. He played both exceptionally well, and if they happened to be in mid travel between field agents like tonight, he would play a good long time (most agents did not care for his music). Nyaasu thought most of his ditties quite silly, but he liked them like that. It was sort of how he thought of Mondo. Silly, but he would not have had him any other way._

"_Play all you want, nya," said Nyaasu, plopping back into the grass and pulling his arms behind his head._

_Mondo first made sure everything was in tune, then nodding to himself for a few seconds with the anticipated beat, he began to strum the first chord on his guitar._

_Nyaasu sat up, and as he listened to the first round of Mondo's silly song, he then joined in where he could catch on, and sang too in his strange, little, cat voice._

"_Stop that music!" screamed a voice._

_Wait? Had they not been alone?_

_As both he and Mondo turned in wide-eyed confusion, Nyaasu saw to his surprise, Musashi and Kojiro cooking hamburgers over a camp fire._

"_We're trying to cook over here!" Musashi snapped._

_Kojiro licked his lips with eager eyes still on their burgers._

"_Nyah?" Nyaasu demanded …_

"Nya …"

Nyaasu lifted his heavy eye lids and instantly wished he could go back to sleep. His whole body ached and stung, and he did not feel at all well. A rag that had probably been meant to cool him down now possessed the heat of a hot water bottle with water fresh from the cooking pot. His head throbbed where his koban burned, and it made Nyaasu shiver feverishly.

"Oh, here, darling, let me change that for you," said a homey, motherly voice.

For a second, the image above his head looked almost human, but as his hot rag was exchanged for a fresh, cool one, Nyaasu focused his eyes enough to make out the pudgy creature and to know that she proved to be neither man nor pokémon. Then he remembered the Digital World.

He moaned bitterly.

Now he really wished he could go back to sleep as painfully reminiscent as his sleep had been, but he had to admit that the cool cloth on his head felt quite nice even as he heard the steam rise from his koban.

He closed his eyes with a heavy sigh and eased back into his pillow where he snuggled contentedly under his blanket. The smell of those hamburgers still hung in the air, strangely enough. Maybe he could slip back to sleep after all.

He began drifting, but the thought of cooking burgers reminded him of something else.

"Kojiro …?" he croaked. "Musashi … nya … where … where am I, nya …?"

"Shh, darling, everything's going to be alright," the digimon promised in a pleasant coo. "You're friends are just fine. Don't you worry about a thing. Concentrate on healing thoughts while I get you some tea."

"Healing thoughts, nya," Nyaasu murmured drowsily. "Healing thoughts, nya. Healing thoughts."

"Could you help me with this, dear," Nyaasu heard the digimon say.

Lifting his head slightly he could see a pair smaller digimon that might as well have been her children, for they looked very much like her. Two of them, one on each side, and one grabbed a plain, Japanese, tea cup from somewhere out of Nyaasu's vision.

"Here you are, Mama Burgamon!" exclaimed the little digimon.

"Thank you, little Burgamon."

Nyaasu laid his heavy head back down as Mama Burgamon returned, and she helped Nyaasu up a bit and puffed up his pillow. The cup then lowered before him, and he reached eagerly for his tea. Oh, it felt so wonderfully soothing down his parched throat. While he drank, Mama Burgamon stroked the back of his head in a manner that might have annoyed Nyaasu at a different time, but he did not mind at all. She was very careful not to touch anywhere sore, and he really did like being comforted.

"There now, darling," said Mama Burgamon. "You're healing up faster than expected, I have to tell you."

"N-yeah, well, I heal quickly, nya …" Nyaasu muttered; he really wasn't in the mood to talk much.

"Wait till I tell your friends that you've regained consciousness!" exclaimed Mama Burgamon, yet even in her exclaiming, her voice was not loud or piercing in any way. Slightly overly-cheerful, maybe, but not hurting to the ear of the weary or ill. Besides at the mention of his friends, Nyaasu instantly perked up and almost hurt himself in his sudden jolt.

"Where are they, nya?"

"They're downstairs helping Papa Burgamon and the little ones with the restaurant, of course," said Mama Burgamon. "Be careful, darling, don't get too excited. You're still far too injured for that, but your friends have been here by your bedside quite often. They're very worried about you."

"N-yeah …" Nyaasu sighed; then a sudden thought occurred to him, and he lifted a curious brow to his nurse. "Even Musashi? But I thought she …"

"Now, now, darling," said Mama Burgamon, shaking a finger. "Save the thinking for when you're well. Remember, healing thought."

"Oh, right. Healing thoughts, nya …" Nyaasu murmured.

His first inclination was to fight it, but he really would rather relax than think about the past events. Was it possible to think about nothing at all? Well, maybe, he would just settle for thinking about shiny things or sakana.

But, wait a minute. Burgamon? Restaurant?

#

Kojiro had been relieved to be able to sleep in a real building again more than he would have wanted to admit. He slept in a real bunk bed under Musashi. He had been able to wash and shave, and the burgamon even patched his clothes where they could — not to mention all the food they received. It seemed a small favor that in return he and Musashi could help a little at the restaurant while they stayed with them, and with so many little burgamon running about, the work hardly proved trying, especially after lunch hour.

The only thing he requested was that he would not have to wait on customers for fear of being recognized. He did not go into detail, but the burgamon did not ask. They still must have assumed that he and Musashi were some odd sort of digimon, or if they did know what he and his partner were, they kept it to themselves. Maybe they simply did not care either way what Musashi or Kojiro were, and were merely trying to help as they had said.

This fact perhaps helped influence Kojiro to attempt to tell them that they were humans, but Papa Burgamon in his chef hat and buttoned chef coat held up his hand for silence and would hear none of it.

Instead, he handed Kojiro a plate full of burgers to hand in turn to the burgamon waiter just outside the kitchen.

Kojiro lowered his head, and took the plate away, but just as he held it out for the little burgamon, a loud crash came from outside the kitchen.

In his surprise, Kojiro almost caused another crash by dropping his plate, but the burgamon swiftly caught it.

"What was that?" Musashi demanded, her hair in a hairnet, looking up from where she had been situated between some burgamon cooking up fries.

"I'll go have a look," said Papa Burgamon calmly; though, the look on his face bespoke much more concern than his voice let on.

The burgamon with the plate peered timidly out of the kitchen and around the corner.

"I think it's those gazimon again," he squeaked.

"What's a …?" Kojiro started, but his voice fell away as Papa Burgamon left the kitchen, muttering to himself uneasily.

Kojiro then looked to Musashi. Musashi looked back, and they heard the loud voice of presumably the gazimon accusing the restaurant of some treachery. Slipping to the doorway, both peaked out with a few other little burgamon doing likewise. All the beady eyes and the two pairs of human eyes peered round the corner to where Papa Burgamon addressed the unhappy customer.

Not everything could be made out. Papa Burgamon did not want to get the restaurant too riled up. Already, most eyes of the diners had fallen upon them, but he kept the voices as low as he could manage. Finally, after a bit of terse whispers, Papa Burgamon held up a large frying pan.

"I demand that you leave the premises now and all your horde, or I'll bop every one of you over the head myself!"

The strange rabbit/wolf creature sneered, but nevertheless backed away with hands held up in defense.

"Sure, Burgamon, but this ain't over, you'll see," said the gazimon, and with a huff, he marched out of the restaurant.

As Papa Burgamon returned, everyone leapt out of the kitchen doorway, and allowed the digimon chef back inside.

"So what was that about?" Musashi asked.

Papa Burgamon shook his head and shrugged. "Just gazimon causing trouble. If they come back, we'll be ready for them." He held up his pan and swung it in baseball bat fashion.

"But what do they want?" Kojiro asked, fearing instantly that it had something to do with Musashi and himself.

"Trouble, as always," said Papa Burgamon, and immediately went back to work.

Kojiro and Musashi once more exchanged glances. He could not read Musashi's easily, but he saw enough stubbornness in it to know that Musashi had the same hunch as he had. What she planned do about it, Kojiro did not know, but he had a feeling he knew what he wanted to do. After all, as the annoying cliché went, there was no such thing as a free lunch.


	34. One Summer Day Reprised

JMJ

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR:

One Summer Day Reprised

"What do you mean?" Kojiro demanded, throwing his hands up in the air in his distraught surprise. "_You're_ the one who always wants to battle, and now you just want to leave?"

"If you've noticed, we haven't exactly proven that we can actually do any help here," Musashi grumbled.

She turned away with her crate of ketchup bottles she had been told to fetch from the store shed outside. Kojiro in turn also grabbed up a crate of mustard bottles and quickly followed after her.

"Besides!" Musashi went on as she walked back the restaurant, "It's not our fight. We're supposed to be lying low, and beating up a bunch of those … whatever those are called isn't my idea of lying low!"

"But they probably suspect we're here already!" Kojiro shouted.

Instantly he froze, eyes darting back and forth, and he even turned behind him as he clutched his crate.

Maybe discussing this outdoors had not been the brightest idea. Maybe they should not even be outside the restaurant at all. Any tree, any rock, any shadow could hide an unfriendly pair of eyes or a sneaky pair of ears. He knew more than enough about what those relentless digimon were capable of, and spying was the very least they could do.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when Musashi spoke again, tossing her head skyward flippantly, "That's why we should just go. It's not like I planned on living here permanently anyway, and these burgamon don't know the way out."

"You don't know that," said Kojiro.

"They don't even know that we're human," Musashi pointed out.

Kojiro shook his head. "You don't know that either."

"What?" Musashi demanded; she stopped just before the back door to the kitchen. "Are you saying I don't know anything?"

A strange squeak escaped Kojiro, and he stepped back a pace.

"No," said Kojiro looking down at the yellow bottles in his crate with a tight cringe.

"Then what are you saying?" Musashi wanted to know.

"I'm just saying that if we just repaid them for helping us that …" Kojiro sighed, shifting his crate. "I … I don't know. I used to be surer of things. I just … wish we could do something. Good."

Now Musashi took her own turn of sighing, and setting down her crate, she turned to Kojiro and with a slight pout and a raised brow as she set her hands on her hips. She stood in this manner for a moment or two looking Kojiro up and down for what Kojiro could not begin to guess, and then she said, "I think it would be better for you and for me if we just left quietly. I'm not getting mixed up in their vaccine/virus war."

"But aren't we already?" Kojiro asked timidly.

"No," said Musashi. "They're dragging us in it. If it wasn't for the fact that we were human—"

"But we _are_ human," Kojiro whined. He had to stop doing that. "And the burgamon aren't dragging us anywhere."

"Mmph," Musashi grunted and lifted up her crate again. "We're taking Nyaasu, and we're leaving. No more getting involved with the digimon. I wanna go home."

And with that, she threw open the back door. Kojiro followed grumpily from behind, almost getting a face full of wood as the door came swinging back toward him. He caught it with his crate and slumped inside.

Kojiro knew why he wanted to help the burgamon, and it was more than merely because he wanted to repay them for their charity. Most likely, he would have wanted to help them whether they had helped him or not, but it all went back to that time in the tower. Everything seemed to revolve around that now. He wanted to break the curse that they had brought upon themselves. The only problem was that they had helped people in the past, oh, sure they had! Like when they helped at that town where everyone was obsessed with wabafets or like when they helped that girl that Nyaasu liked so much who owned that paras, but that did not change anything. Besides both those times they were still merely helping to help themselves not the people they were helping. This time it was still for that reason; though, wasn't it?

Kojiro dropped the crate roughly on the floor next to where Musashi gently set hers.

Could fighting away those gazimon really prove anything?

There was no sinister motive behind his wanting to help, but Musashi was probably right. They wouldn't be able to. After years of owning Arbok and Weezing, they still did not stand much in a fight, getting beat up and flung into the air by swinubs and caterpies! _Urg_! It was humiliating. Old rages were building up inside of him at the very thought, but they digressed soon enough; he had gotten rather use to failure. Besides, it was not as if they ever had time to train their pokémon properly being always on the move and sneaking about — where their next meal would come from always had much higher priority than that of training when they weren't planning their next big scheme for the brat boy and his friends.

He supposed he should just follow Musashi and take Nyaasu out of there before they caused any real damage, and that would probably be the best way they could repay the burgamon. Then the gazimon would no longer suspect anything of the restaurant, and the burgamon would be left alone.

Besides, they had not asked Nyaasu's opinion on the subject. He was awake and about now and would certainly have his own thoughts about the situation. Kojiro guessed Nyaasu would agree with Musashi, though.

He guessed right.

#

Early next morning, Musashi, Kojiro and Nyaasu were on the road again. They had not said goodbye. They had not spoken a word of their plans of departure to anyone. It made Kojiro feel a little guilty, but what could be done?

Nyaasu, riding on Kojiro's shoulder and leaning over his head, noticed something wrong in that perturbed face half hidden amidst that thick, blue hair. He eyed him suspiciously from upside down and then resumed his position on top of Kojiro's head.

"What's wrong with you, nya?" Nyaasu asked.

"He just wanted to help," Musashi replied, her tone strange and unreadable, causing both cat and man to look up curiously at her still striding even-paced up ahead.

Kojiro glanced up at Nyaasu then, and Nyaasu shrugged in return before Kojiro sped up beside their partner.

Opening his mouth to speak, all thought and word left him so that he clamped his mouth tightly shut again. He stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes gazed out in front of him, and his mouth started to part, but it was not to speak. His neck arched forward as his look of surprise turned into a blank fish-like gape of an expression, and the arms hanging limply where they would did not help to make the slouching posture anymore distinguished.

Nyaasu, being on his head noticed long before Musashi, who continued to walk undisturbed. Waving his paw in front of Kojiro's eyes, Nyaasu tried to wake him from his stupor, but it proved apparently a pretty dead stupor. He had, after all, stopped dead in his tracks.

"Uh, Kojiro, anybody in there, nya?" Nyaasu asked, knocking him on the head.

Only now did Musashi turn to look at what was going on behind her.

Tears began welling up in Kojiro's eyes. He choked slightly, but he continued all the same to stare out in front of him. The only thing either Nyaasu or Musashi could do next was to follow the direction of his gaze.

Their breath was stolen away from them.

A tunnel!

And not just any tunnel! The type of tunnel that they had all seen only once before in their entire lives. The tunnel in the air with some scene completely different from the one in which they stood now. The untamed tangle of vines, unfriendly thorns, and savage flowers looked even more foreign and sinister against the seemingly magical land on the other side of the tunnel. The soft green hills, the water-colored trees, the wide open blue sky with its slowly-moving, cotton ball clouds overhead, the cute little pond in the distance, and the beginning of a village beyond that, it looked more like a dream, a fairy tale than anyplace they had really been too, and yet, they knew those clouds, those hills, those trees, those little roofs peaking out in the distance beyond the hills.

"Nya …" murmured Nyaasu.

"I … is that really …" Musashi stuttered, and she swallowed with difficulty.

"Home," finished Kojiro, a smile slowly forming on his face.

The smile soon took effect on the entire trio as they all leaned in for a closer look with wide-grinning faces.

"I see a tailow!" exclaimed Nyaasu.

"Where?" gasped Kojiro.

"Right there!" Musashi pointed.

"I still don't see it!" Kojiro said.

"It's home alright, nya!" Nyaasu cried, and he leapt excitedly upon Kojiro's shoulders.

"Come on you guys, tell me, where is it!" Kojiro complained.

"Well!" cried Musashi, standing upright and holding out a determined fist. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"_Sodane_!" exclaimed her partners.

But, of course, something had to happen that stopped their leaping right through the opening. Of course the crash and the cry echoing through the jungle aroused their attention. There was only one building in the whole area, and they knew instantly whose windows had been smashed, and whose screams chilled the forest. The tunnel to their home called to them with the longing of a dream, but Musashi and Nyaasu turned immediately to Kojiro, for both were wary of his next actions.

With head lowered to the ground and feet shuffling uneasily, he opened his mouth to speak.

"Nyah!"

Nyaasu had his paw firmly over Kojiro's mouth before he could say more than one syllable.

"I kny-ow what you're going to say, nya!" Nyaasu cried angrily.

"Mmph …?" That was all Kojiro could manage with two kitty paws over his lips, but for the moment he seemed too stunned to pry him off, or maybe he just wanted to hear what Nyaasu had to say first.

"You're going to say that those are the burgamon, nya?" Nyaasu demanded. "You're going to say that we shouldn't just go out to freedom and leave those burgamon that helped us. We can't just let them suffer for the fact that we just happened to be in the area and everyone else wants you two humans to do everything for them, nya."

Musashi lowered her head and examined her finger nails strangely.

"You're going to say we owe them, nya! You're going to say it's ny-ot fair, nya! Nya, nya, nya, you're going to say that it's the least we can do to go back there and get our butts kicked, because if we go back and don't help you won't be able to live with yourself for the rest of your life, and …"

The voice of Nyaasu fell away. His paws slipped from Kojiro's face, and Nyaasu leaned wearily over his head instead with hind paws repositioning themselves on Kojiro's shoulders.

"Let's do it, nya," Nyaasu muttered.

A determined glint shown then in Musashi's eyes as she looked up at Nyaasu and then to Kojiro.

"Yeah, let's do it!" she said, pounding her fist into her palm. "I'm in!"

Kojiro's eyes welled up again, but those tears trickled down from glistening eyes and over widely, goofily beaming cheeks.

"Musashi … Nyaasu …!" he sobbed, rubbing an eye with the back of his hand.

"Quit crying, Kojiro!" Musashi snapped.

"N-yeah, put on your fighting face, nya!"

With a final sniffle and a sharp nod, Kojiro turned with eyes of emerald fire toward the Burgamon Restaurant.

"Let's do it!" he shouted.

#

_BANG!_

_BOP!_

_CLANG!_

_BOONK!_

Papa Burgamon, with amazing skill and surprising grace for his pudgy body, swung his frying pan with one hand and his cooking pot with the other as each gazimon came. Mama Burgamon swacked a rolling pin with equal skill, but her mind was more upon the little burgamon, which she was constantly on the lookout for. Every second she feared a gazimon snatching one of those little ones away as they hid behind the kitchen door, under the tables, and on the ceiling lamps and lanterns. The two adult burgamon were good fighters, and even the little burgamon could help now and then by throwing silverware and squirting ketchup and mustard from bottles. It seemed they would win too, except for one little problem.

The buzzing sound came first. It was almost deafening as it echoing around the outer shell of what had once been the finest restaurant (now in utter ruin) this side of the Digital World. Then the smashes came next. Apparently there stood a few more windows that the gazimon had not broken yet and the newcomers could rightly use.

First one gokimon appeared, and then another and other. There were perhaps half a dozen in all, but they were far stronger, far faster, and far more of a threat than the gazimon. They surrounded the area and moved in on the restaurateurs until they were most of them trapped in the middle of the restaurant. The virus' snickering did not help much.

"Stay back!" Papa Burgamon warned, holding his pot and pan out in front of him.

"We still got a lot of fight left!" added Mama Burgamon.

"Oh, I'm _so_ scared!" laughed a gokimon.

Another gokimon slapped him on the back, and almost caused the other to choke on his spit.

"Watch it!" he snapped.

"Ahem!"

Everyone turned to this little cough, and up in the rafters, a dark shadow landed neatly upon an overhanging beam. Oh, yes, it was Picodevimon, the one and only ugly monstrosity.

"All we want is the information," said Picodevimon lightly. "I know that you know where they are. They've been seen skulking around the area. Tell us; then you can all go free and be on your merry, burger-making way." He spoke as if the offer was a most gracious one.

"We don't consort with slime of Vamdemon!" snapped Papa Burgamon.

Picodevimon smiled, and upon seeing the ringleader's good humor, the gazimon and gokimon sneered all the more, preparing themselves at any moment to jump at their prey.

"You have no choice," said Picodevimon. "Even if you make it outside, there's a whole army of chumlimon waiting for you out there. You can't fight us all. It's just one question. That's all we want."

"And maybe some burgers," said a gokimon.

"Shut up!" a gazimon snarled back.

"Yeah, this is business!" snapped another gazimon.

Picodevimon rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me?!" he demanded. "I'm trying to make an impression here!"

"Oh, you're making an impression alright," grumbled Papa Burgamon.

Wings fluttered with impatience and eyes flared with irritation as he bounced up and down on his rafter beam.

"Where are those _HUMANS_!?" Picodevimon screamed.

_Flick! Plick! Hmmmmmmmmmmm …_

Picodevimon raised a confused brow. "Whu—?"

The now weak lights of the restaurant flickered with effort and finally hummed to life, but one light in particular above the kitchen door drew the attention of all, for it swung from its ceiling chain as if something had landed on, and it was far heavier than Picodevimon.

"Ah! So you decided to come on your own!" Picodevimon laughed, but his laugh was cut short as the pair on the light fixture interrupted in loud, announcer-toned voices.

"If anyone asks us this or that … !" cried Musashi with a swish of her long, red hair.

Kojiro with a melodramatic swoop of his own hair, continued, "The answer we'll give is …"

"Nyah, nyah! Made you look, nya!" Nyaasu cried, leaping out from the skylight from which the other two had apparently come from.

With a flair that neared ridiculous, Kojiro threw a pokéball out in front of him.

"Smog attack, Weezing!" he cried.

The instant the queer purple mass emerged he let out a spray of smog that soon filled the entire room so that the only thing that could be made out aside from couching, gagging and growls of rage was the light dancing about like a light show on stage as the trio leapt from their platform down to the floor.

"Go Arbok!" Musashi called in the thick of the smoke.

Picodevimon was the only digimon high enough from the smoke not to be gagged, and he watched the smog with a dark leer at the stupidity of this unanticipated event.

"You're only prolonging it," he said. "Your pokémon are insignificant and outnumbered! And besides that my gazimon friends have excellent vision, and can see through your smog!"

"We do?" coughed one from below.

"I can't see a thing, my eyes are watering!" growled another.

A sweat drop of annoyance formulated on Picodevimon's head as he closed his eyes to better steep in the rising heat of his anger. But he should have had his eyes open a moment longer, for at that moment Arbok appeared directly in front of him.

"Poison sting!" Musashi cried from below; though she too had let out a cough beforehand (the plan had not been very well thought out, and she only knew where Picodevimon was because of where she had seen him before she had landed in the smog.)

"AK!" cried Picodevimon.

Arbok's stings did not miss a shot and Picodevimon fell to the floor without any fight left in him for the moment, and he moaned in agony. However, as everyone looked down at the miserably heap, it was also noted that the smog was beginning to clear, and the angry gazimon and gokimon turned their eyes upon the human intruders.

Kojiro backed up into Musashi.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," he whispered.

"Oh, no you don't!" snapped Musashi, and she threw her other ball. "Lickitongue, lick!"

Lickitongue also emerged ready to fight and licked a gokimon that happened to be right in front of him.

The gokimon instantly fell to the floor completely stunned and shaking uncontrollably.

Kojiro, although a little hesitant, let out Victreebel as well, and after prying her off his head and the digimon had recovered from the strange sight of the creatures emerging from little balls, the real fight began. With Mama and Papa Burgamon ready beside them, Musashi and Kojiro with their pokémon would fight even if it was the last fight they had …

#

Tailmon lifted an ear and listened. Something was stirring in the distance. The very faintest of cries could be heard breaking through the forest and spreading out in a wave before it entirely dissipated in the silence of the trees. She spun around to Agumon.

"You hear that?" she demanded.

Agumon nodded. "Yeah, I think so. Do you think it's the humans?"

"Forget that noise!" cried Gomamon. "Look over there." And he pointed a clawed flipper.

Something was rustling in the bushes not far from where Gomamon, Agumon, and Tailmon stood. All three turned to it, and carefully, without a word, they made their way quickly towards it.

And what should emerge from the brush but a pair of burgamon leaping out onto the scene in excitement.

"What?" cried Tailmon.

"Oh! Vaccines!" gasped one burgamon.

"We found some right away!" gasped the other.

"What's going on!?" Agumon wanted to know.

"The restaurant!" said the first.

"It's being overrun!" explained the other.

"We need help!"

"We ran out to get some!"

"Us little burgamon are fighting chumlimon outside!"

"Mama and Papa Burgamon are fighting inside!"

"With the humans!"

"Yes, with the humans!"

The trio of digimon looked at each other and then back to the burgamon.

"They are!?" they cried.

Tailmon frowned.

"I'll get the others!" Gomamon announced.

Tailmon and Agumon at once followed the burgamon to the scene of the catastrophe.

"_Neko punch_!" Tailmon cried as she came upon the first chumlimon in her path. The others scurried out of her path, and she charge into restaurant.

"Where are the humans!" she demanded.

Then she stopped, and her eyes widened.

She had expected a big brawl on the inside. She had certainly expected no one to answer her, and she certainly expected someone to fight her back.

Instead, all was silent save for a glass breaking somewhere in the abandoned war zone … well, not abandoned really. The gazimon and gokimon were scattered about everywhere quite unconscious.

"Tailmon?" asked a soft, non-threatening voice.

Tailmon turned and faced a battered but still in one piece, Papa Burgamon walking slowly up to her.

"What happened?" asked Agumon from behind.

A wide, kingly grin spread out across the face of Papa Burgamon. "They fought gloriously! Just like in the stories!"

"It was an amazing battle!" cried Mama Burgamon suddenly beside Papa Burgamon, and she clutched a little burgamon tightly in her arms. "Oh, I'm so glad it's over!"

"But … where are the humans?" Tailmon wanted to know.

"Gone," said Papa Burgamon.

"They fought and they left," said Mama Burgamon.

"Where?" cried both Tailmon and Agumon together.

Mama Burgamon smiled, and lifted the little burgamon so that she held him with just one hand, and with the other on her hip she said, "Home."

"They flew through the air!" cried a little burgamon at her feet.

"A gokimon in one last effort hit them so hard they flew through the air," said Mama Burgamon.

"But Papa Burgamon knocked that gokimon out, though!" exclaimed a burgamon, popping out from behind the cash register on the floor.

"Us little burgamon went up to the roof to see where they would land," said the burgamon in her arm.

Tailmon raised a confused brow, wondering why these digimon should be so happy that their rescuers had been injured so. Burgamon were strange, quaint digimon, but they were not that weird.

"Where did they land?" she asked hesitantly.

"They didn't," said the little burgamon in Mama Burgamon's arm.

"They disappeared in a wall of bright green and disappeared," said yet another little one.

"You mean—" Agumon started.

"They went home," said Papa Burgamon.

#

"AHHHHHH!"

_Crash!_

Kojiro's back ached, his head ached. His whole body felt the impact. He fell through the sky; what else would he feel like? He hated _yana kanji_! He hated it so very, very much!

A bird called overhead, and he heard the moan of Musashi not far from him.

That bird call sounded familiar, and it belonged to no digimon.

"Tailow," he murmured.

His eyes flew open.

Grass. Trees. Clouds. Blue sky!

Lifting himself carefully into a kneeling position, Kojiro looked around him as if uncertain of whether or not his senses could be trusted. His two companions slowly lifted their heads as well, but Kojiro did not look behind him for a moment or two until Musashi and Nyaasu could have their fill of the surrounding as well. When he did look to the others, they all looked in unison. Even their pokémon had to look in at their masters' from their painful heaps.

Tears welled up, and the moment their eyes met, the trio lunged for each other, and three pairs of waterfalls gushed around them. They grabbed each other so hard they practically strangled each other in their joyous disbelief.

They kissed the ground. They danced with glee. They leapt up and down and laughed and shouted at the top of their lungs so that if anyone had seen them on top of that grassy hill from which they had disappeared a mere couple of hours their world's time, anyone would have thought them asylum escapees.

And perhaps that was what they were in a way. They had escaped the insanity and mind-torturing world that they had had to endure for months! And now, as if they had never left they were finally home on this beautiful, hot summer day, the one from which they had left all those weeks ago; though, it felt more like years had passed since they had been here on this hill.

"We're home!" screamed Musashi, falling backwards into the grass after she could dance no more.

"We're back!" cried Kojiro, basking in the sunlight.

"N-yeah!" Nyaasu shouted. "N-yow we can go get that pi … ka … chu …" His voice fell away, and all joy vanished from all three faces of the trio.

Kojiro stared down at his feet. "Oh, yeah, Team Rocket."

"Yeah," said Musashi, leaning upward into a sitting position.

Nyaasu hesitated. "So, what are we going to do, nya?"

"Nothing!" said Musashi simply as she stood up off the ground and returned Arbok and Lickitongue to their pokéballs. "We deserve a break anyway. We'll decide what to do later."

With a heavy sigh, Kojiro returned his own pokémon and looked away into the late afternoon hills.

"Kojiro."

Kojiro turned around, and quickly wiped a tear from his eye so that Musashi would not see it.

"Not today. We won't catch Pikachu today," she promised, placing a gentle hand upon his shoulder. And after a paused she hugged him tightly.

"What about tomorrow?" asked Kojiro.

More than willingly had he returned the hug previous to his query. He practically collapsed into it, in fact. It still seemed too fantastic that they had even had left the Digital World for their reality. Maybe he was still dreaming, but the question would not leave him be however much he wanted to relax.

Neither Musashi nor Nyaasu could answer him, but Kojiro was not sure he could answer the question himself.

#

This was an excellent day for the continuing adventures of a pokémon trainer, Satoshi thought to himself with an easy stride. It was not nearly as hot as yesterday, and the sun was as optimistic in its light as it was in its comfortable temperature. He was ready for anything! So were his friends, Takeshi, Haruka, and Masato, and of course Pikachu who now rode on his head with a cheerful, "_Pika, pika_!"

"That's right, Pikachu!" cried Satoshi. "Now that we're done with breakfast it's time for our next destination! I'll take anything that comes my way! Anything that happens, we'll be ready, and … and …" He stopped in mid step and furrowed a brow. "Hey, wasn't that Team Rocket we just past?"

"_Pi_?" asked Pikachu cocking and ear.

Everyone spun around and backed up a few paces to the open patch in the soft wood surrounding their path. There stood Team Rocket, just as Satoshi had thought. They looked quite beat up with torn uniforms, and bruised faces. Kojiro did not even have his top uniform shirt, and was it just him or was Nyaasu's koban cracked a little. Seeing them injured however was hardly what confused Satoshi. In fact, that was something he only noticed after studying carefully, but it was how they simply stood there, backs against their landed hot air balloon and arms crossed and faces more annoyed than his was.

"Uh, Team Rocket, what are you doing?" asked Masato, looking up at his sister with confusion.

"Yeah, why aren't you guys saying your stupid motto, and stuff?" Satoshi demanded.

"_Pikachu_!_ Pi, pi_!" Pikachu agreed.

"We're ny-ot in the mood today, nya," Nyaasu muttered.

"Well, what happened to you?" asked Haruka.

"None of your business," said Musashi simply.

"Leave us alone," said Kojiro, equally as simply.

Takeshi leaned in to Satoshi's ear.

"This might be some kind of trick," he whispered.

"I think so too," Satoshi grumbled, and he turned once more to Team Rocket, marching right up to the trio until he was hardly a foot in front of them.

They barely moved at his approach, except to straighten a bit more and look down at him idly.

"Alright," Satoshi demanded. "Where's the hole?" He looked up at Musashi and Kojiro and then glared down at Nyaasu between them.

"There is no hole, nya," said Nyaasu.

Satoshi crossed his arms now as well. "Okay, then where's the giant robot thing?"

"There is no giant robot," replied Kojiro.

Satoshi thought a moment, and then asked, holding up a hand with his question, "Then there's an explosive somewhere."

"Nope," said Musashi.

"Well, there must be something you guys are up to!" snapped Satoshi. "You're not fooling me!"

"You can go n-yow, nya," said Nyaasu, waving a paw aside. "Shoo before we change our minds."

Satoshi glanced at Pikachu on his shoulder a moment, and Pikachu shrugged.

"_Pika pi_," he said.

"Well, I don't like this," grumbled Satoshi. "You guys aren't acting normal at all."

Nyaasu smiled. "What do you mean, I'm always ny-ormal, nya."

Everyone froze, apparently anything but amused as all eyes fell with irritation upon Nyaasu. However, just as Satoshi opened his mouth to say something a little chuckle could be heard.

"_Pi, hi, hi_."

Satoshi frowned.

"Pikachu," he muttered.

There was another pause before the little pokémon exploded into peals of laughter. Tears even squeezed through his eyes as he pounded his master's head.

Now all widely-popped eyes were on Pikachu's, except for the eyes of Satoshi which had rolled above him as he slapped his forehead.

"Pikachu, it's not that funny."

Pikachu only laughed harder.

Nyaasu shrugged. "I said it, and I don't even think it's that funny, nya."

"Then why'd you say it?" Kojiro asked.

Satoshi groaned, and turned back towards his friends. Pikachu almost lost his balance he was laughing so hard.

"Come on guys let's go," he said.

His friends quickly agreed. They had no desire to stick around this strange scene a moment longer.

As Satoshi and the other children disappeared around the bend with the still giggling Pikachu, Musashi, Kojiro, and Nyaasu turned to each other, and could not help but laugh too.

_OWARI_

* * *

_NOTE: I just want to say again that this fic would not have been written if it had not been the support of my sister. The idea itself was co-created with her. Oh, and Neamon's presense was my brother's idea and I thank him for that because Neamon added quite nicely to the story. He also wanted Neamon to beat up Picodevimon so I'm happy to say I found a spot for that. Also a lot of Kojiro's thoughts and character developement were co-created by my sister as well, as this entire story is based off of something we played together. I was Musashi and Nyaasu, and she was Kojiro and Tailmon. I just liked the story so much I had to write it down. And also while we're at it, I'll just add the disclaimer that I made up neither the Digital World nor Pokemon World. Thanks to the creators for making interesting concepts and characters to use in this fanfic! I thank God and Mary for all of my writing! And thank you so much to everyone who read this story! I've never wrote a fanfic that meant this much to me and you're support is most loved.  
_


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